


An Altered Life

by Starr_Williams



Series: Twist of Fate [1]
Category: Gargoyles (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 44,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starr_Williams/pseuds/Starr_Williams
Summary: What if we turn the tables a bit? What if, from the very beginning, the roles were reversed? What if Elisa was the gargoyle and the Manhattan clan were human? This isn't part of my regular story line. Just something a little something different, a little twisty and a little fun.  (My First time Posting to AO3, so if I make a mistake in the posting, please let me know)
Relationships: Goliath/Elisa Maza
Series: Twist of Fate [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197332
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue

Prologue:

Location: Undisclosed

“Report number 60 of the Nightshade Project,” a white coated woman said into her recorder. In front of her were her written notes, but since it was widely known that no one in the lab could decipher her shorthand except her, she was forced to use the voice recorder so that others could understand her work. With a put-upon sigh, and in what she thought of as a total waste of time, she continued. “It has been two months since we were given the specimen to experiment on. So far, all attempts at mind control have failed, as evidenced by last night’s attempted raid on the Reynard Airship. The subject was given orders to retrieve a simple computer disc, but the operation failed horribly when it panicked and abandoned the mission early. The reason for the mind alterations not taking root is unknown, as the process has previously worked on the human subjects we have done similar experiments on, but I suspect it is something in its genetics that are allowing her immunity. 

“I have hope that the project will eventually work, the more that we wear the subject down. We have discovered that because Gargoyles go into a stone hibernation during the day, our usual method of sleep deprivation will not work. However, now that the subject has been told that they are the only one left of their kind, every other gargoyle that may have existed at that location destroyed long ago, we may have achieved our goal. The subject has been more impressionable over the last forty eight hours, and this may be the opportunity we were looking for. 

“If nothing else, the genetic testing alone will be beneficial. The speed, strength and rapid healing will be enough to begin the bidding war from governments all over the world as well as additional funding for further development. To be able to attempt DNA alterations within a human so that they would benefit from the Gargoyle’s physical abilities is a dream for me.

“First, the strength and healing, then we could potentially move on to something more advanced. I am thinking more of the physical characteristics, such as the wings for flight and talons. While I have previously drawn some blood for typing and some minor Genetic testing, it was nowhere near enough to begin the kind of testing that we would need for a large scale test. 

“The Gargoyle was hesitant to give me the little that I have, and has flatly refused to give me more of her own volition. I have sent my need of assistance to our benefactor, and he has assured us that he will aid us with this by using the tranquilizing mixture that we finally managed to adjust for her weight and size, but only if tonight’s experiment is a failure.

“If failure to complete her assignment is once more the case tonight, then we will…” the woman trailed off as ear-piercing alarms and flashing lights invaded her thoughts.

Rushing to her feet, she opened the door of the lab to see waves of heavily armed, black clad security personnel running through the halls.

“What is going on?” She demanded.

“The damn thing got out,” One of the men said as he ran by.

She reached out and grabbed the man’s arm, jerking him to a halt. “Do not kill it,” She ground 1out between her teeth.

“No ma’am,” He said, shaking her hand off of his arm in irritation. “Orders are to be non-lethal. Only tranquilizers allowed unless absolutely unavoidable.”

The man turned to make his way to the exit, where voices were beginning to raise and orders shouted.

The woman stormed back in to the lab, slamming the door with an oath. In a fit of rage, she swept her arms across the counter, sending her notes sailing into the air in all directions. 

Forgetting for a moment that she was still being recorded, she muttered, “I’ll be damned if that… that… thing,” She spit out, “gets away and ends my career like this.”

She turned as stormed out of the laboratory, just as the batteries finished draining in the old Dictaphone that she’d been using. 

There was a soft click, and the recording stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Modern Day Manhattan

“We’re going to get caught,” The dark haired girl laughed as her boyfriend led her under the bleachers. She had shoulder length dark hair and was dressed in a white and blue cheerleading uniform, her white shoes turning grey with the dirt and after-game debris. She looked down with a sigh, seeing that she would have to clean them later to avoid the wrath of Sherry, the head cheerleader.

“No, we won’t” the boy chuckled. He leaned forward, gathering her to his chest in a hug. He was freshly showered, thank god, she thought. His blonde hair still damp from the cleaning, his body smelling of soap and deodorant. He wore a football jersey, a clean one that the team dictated that the players wear to school on game days, with blue jeans and well-worn sneakers. “We won’t stay long, I promise.”

“We’d better not,” She said, glancing towards the parking lot. “My dad will be here any minute to pick me up.”

The boy winced, and sent his own glance to the parking lot. “He’s not here is he?”

She laughed, “I don’t think so. You know how his schedule goes sometimes.”

“Yeah,” He said, still sounding weary. “Must be hard having a dad who’s a detective.”

She nods. “You have no idea. It is so hard to get anything by him.”

“Maybe we should...Go wait in the parking lot.” He said.

The girl sighed. “Yeah.” She grabbed the front of the boy’s uniform shirt. “But first….” She laughed as she pulled his down for a brief kiss. 

They broke apart guiltily as the sound of squealing tires, and the flash of headlights swept over them. 

The plain black van pulled up to the chain link fence, the only thing that separated them from the young couple being the high chain link fence that surrounded the football field. The van came to a rocking stop, a testament to how fast they had been going in the nearly deserted parking lot.

The couple watched, open mouthed as the side door opened with a metallic ‘thunk’ as it slammed into the end of its sliding track.

“Hey kids,” came a vaguely threatening deep voice. “Come here.”

The young couple gave each other a nervous look. The boy pushed his arm out, keeping his girl behind her.

“What?” He asked, his voice sounded rough and angry.

“You see a strange…girl run past here?” He asked.

The boy frowned. “No… Why?”

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” The man practically growled in frustration. 

“What’s going on?” The boy asked. “Who is it?”

The man’s cold gaze met the boy’s, and the boy fought the urge to shiver at the lack of emotion there. “Forget about it,” The man said heavily before slamming the door back into place. A moment later, the van was speeding through the parking lot as it recklessly swerving around the few cars that remained in the parking lot.

“Jeeze,” The boy said, shaking his head. 

“What was that about?” The girl asked, eyes wide.

He shrugged. “Who knows?”

“Maybe we should…” The girl began, but paused. She tilted her head to the side and frowned. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He said, looking around.

“Shhh,” She said, putting a hand over his mouth.

There was a rustle of leaves and a barely there whimper.

The boy swung his head in the direction, squinting to try to see into the dark.

While this part of the fence was open, except for a long skinny banner that announced the date of the Homecoming game, beginning a few feet over was a wooden fence that blocked the lights from the parking lot. 

That’s why this was such a popular place after the games for couples.

The boy moved forward a step, and his girlfriend grabbed at his elbow. “Don’t, please. What if it’s a rabid animal?”

The boy frowned back at her. “Just give me a minute.”

The girl sighed, and reluctantly let go of his arm. She seemed to hesitate, but joined him.

“Hello?” He called out, as she rolled her eyes.

“There are horror movies that start like this,” She pointed out. “Besides, if it’s an animal, it’s not going to answer…”

There was a small gasp, and more rustling.

The young couple stopped.

“Hello?” The boy tried again.

“Are they gone?” a quiet voice asked.

“Yeah,” The girl answered. “They’re gone.” The girl, squinted into the darkness and could just barely make out a form in the back now that her own eyes were adjusting to the lack of light. “Do you need help?”

There was movement in the back, and finally the girl could make out the huddled form of a female.

The girl placed a hand on her boyfriend’s arm, and moved in front of him. “It’s okay,” She said, bending down so that she could get more on the other female’s level. Cautiously, she held out a hand towards the girl. “You can come out. We can help you.”

The female seemed to hesitate before finally moving forward slowly.

“Do you need help?” The girl asked again. 

“Yes,” The female answered, her voice had a slightly husky tone to it. “I don’t know where I am, but I would like to go home.”

“Okay,” The girl said. Heedless of her clean white cheerleading uniform, she knelt down on the ground and extended her hand. “Come on out and we can figure out how to get you home. My dad’s a cop, and he’ll know what to do.”

“A cop?” the voice asked. 

“Yeeeah,” the girl said, slowly. “You know. A police officer. They help others.”

After another, longer hesitation, a hand came out to take the hand of the cheerleader. 

The cheerleader smiled encouragingly, and helped to pull the other girl forward. It was still dark enough that she could only make out the vague outline of the female… but she was tall, and looked to be wrapped in a blanket. 

Maybe she was older than they had thought.

And her hand was huge. 

“What’s your name?” The cheerleader asked.

“I… I don’t have one,” The female said.

The girl blinked. “Surely, you have a name. Everyone has a name.” She insisted.

“Not me,” the female said softly.

“Ooookay,” The cheerleader said, looking helplessly toward her boyfriend. “Well, we can deal with that later,” She said with a smile.

“What’s your name?” the nameless female asked.

The cheerleader smiled. “My name is Angela.”


	3. Chapter 3

Angela nodded at her boyfriend, “This is my boyfriend, Brock.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but she’s the only one to call me that. Most just call me by my nickname, Broadway.” 

“Broadway?” the female said, frowning in concentration, “And Angela?”

“Yeah,” Angela said, “He’s on the football team with guys who all decided to give themselves nicknames.” She rolled her eyes. “Our closest friends are Broadway, Brooklyn and Lexington.”

“Why?” The female asked.

“Why the nicknames?” Angela asked, and shrugged when the woman nodded. “They hated the names their mamas gave them.” Angela said with a small smile. “But whatever.”

There was a round of laughter that erupted from the parking lot, and the female tried to retreat back farther into the darkness. 

“Speak of the devils,” Angela said with a sigh. “That sounds like them now.”

Broadway looked out at the parking lot. “Yeah, it’s them. Hold on, and let me go talk to them a minute. Maybe they can hang around a bit and help, just in case that van comes back.”

“Good idea,” Angela said. 

Angela turned to watch Broadway hurry out to the parking lot to meet up with the guys.

“They’re loud,” Angela said with a smile, “But they’re good guys.”

The boy that was known as Broadway ducked back under the bleachers, his two friends coming with him.

Broadway was tall, and solid looking with blonde hair. Not fat, but definitely not as lean as his friends.

Broadway, conscious of the female’s nervousness, stopped his friends on the edge of the light so that she would be able to see them.

“This is Brooklyn,” He said, gesturing to his friends as he introduced them, “And this is Lexington.”

Brooklyn and Lexington looked confused. Broadway had given them a brief rundown of the situation, and while they were willing to help they honestly didn’t know what to do.

“Dude,” Brooklyn said, running his hands through his shoulder length white-blonde hair, “Shouldn’t we just call the police?”

“Or Angela’s dad?” Lexington suggested. Lexington was thin with shortly cropped dark hair on his head. He was almost a good head and shoulders shorter than his friends, but it worked to his advantage. He was fast, and no one could catch him on the field.

All three males wore football jerseys, white with bright blue lettering identifying them as “Bulldogs” with their numbers and nicknames on the back.

“Please, don’t,” The female voice wavered. 

“Okay,” Angela said softly, giving the woman’s hand a squeeze. She didn’t know what this woman had been through, but as a female and the daughter of a cop, she knew several scenarios that could have caused such fear. “We won’t call the police, but maybe   
we should get you out of here and somewhere safe, just in case they come back.”

The woman’s hand tightened on Angela’s hand almost painfully for a moment before loosening again.

“All I have is my bike,” Brooklyn said. He turned to Lexington, “You?”

Lexington shrugged. “I walked.”

“Of course,” Brooklyn sighed. He turned to Broadway, “I guess that means that you’re the driver.” 

Broadway shrugged and dug his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll go get the car, and pull up to the gates.”

“Thanks, babe,” Angela said, turning to grin at her boyfriend. Angela turned to her two friends, “While he gets the car, could you guys go to the parking lot and keep an eye out for a black van?” 

The boys nodded silently, their playful banter and expressions gone as the reality of their situation finally began dawning on them. They made their ways to the parking lot, and stood sentinel one on each side of the gate.

Angela turned to the shadowy form of the woman again. “We’re going to get you out of here, and somewhere safe. Then, we’ll decide what to do.”

“Okay,” The woman said, and she began to inch forward. Angela’s night vision had kicked in enough to make out the torn and dirty clothing the woman was wearing. 

“Wait,” Angela said, an idea sparking in her mind as Broadway’s beat up Corolla came to a stop a few feet away. “Hey, Lex, can you grab the blanket out of the trunk?”

Lexington rushed towards the trunk of the car, and withdrew a large plaid blanket. “Here,” he called as he moved back on her side of the chain link fence. He tossed the blanket at her, and Angela managed to catch the thick bundle. 

“Thanks,” She said. “Okay, we’re going to cover you as much as possible, and then we’re going to get in the car. You lay across the back seat, and Broadway and I will be in the front. The other two can follow us on Brooklyn’s bike.”

“Alright,” the woman said softly. Gingerly, she took the blanket and covered herself so that only her face showed. It was long enough to cover her from the top of her head, and trailed almost a foot behind her. It was a picnic blanket that Angela had made to be large enough to accommodate all of her friends a few weeks ago, and it had thankfully just been left in Broadway’s trunk ever since.

As she stepped forward, Angela couldn’t help but study the woman’s face. She had a deep olive skin tone, and judging from the few strands of hair that escaped, she had jet black hair. She was about the same height as Angela’s own 5’5” tall, and may have a similar thin athletic build, but it was hard to say for certain with the blanket covering her. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, though Angela could be off a few years either way.

“Ready?” Angela asked.

“Yes,” the woman said.

“Wait a minute,” Brooklyn called over his shoulder. “Van incoming.”

The woman retreated back into the darkness.

Broadway got out of his car, and stood with crossed arms on the roof of his car. 

Lexington and Brooklyn struck similar poses, and began talking about the game as the van entered the parking lot again. It was going at a slower pace this time, windows rolled down, but it was obvious that they were looking for something.

Or someone…

“I’ll be right back,” Angela promised the woman in a whisper. “Stay here. We’ll get rid of them.”

Angela got to her feet, brushed the dirt from her knees as best she could, and hurried to join the boys. 

“Thank for waiting, guys,” She said in a breathless voice as if she’d been running from a farther distance away.

“No worries,” Brooklyn said.

“So, where are we going to eat tonight?” Angela said, trying to sound as if nothing was wrong.

Nothing to see here, folks…

The van pulled up even with them, and a different guy then last time leaned out the window but he was dressed the same. Black shirt, black beanie, and black opaque aviator style glasses.

Just as the van pulled up beside them, and the man opened his mouth to say something, a familiar red Ford Fairlane pulled into the lot, the red bubble light placed on the roof in plain view.

The man in the widow looked back in irritation before leaning back into the van and rolling up the window. He motioned to the driver, and the van continued on its way.

“Yeah,” Brooklyn said, crossing his arms and glaring at the van, “That wasn’t suspicious at all.”

“Saved by your dad,” Lexington grinned.

Angela turned and waved her dad over. As he cruised in to a stop behind Broadway’s car, he rolled down his window. “Hey dad,” Angela said, bending at the knees so that she could see her father’s face. “It’s kind of a long story, but would you mind hanging   
around here for a minute?”

Her father frowned. “Of course,” He said, the deep baritone of his voice carrying over the engine noise of both vehicles. “What has happened?”

“Nothing,” Angela hurried to say, “But those guys in the dark van that was just here?” She pointed in the direction the van had gone, “They’ve been cruising through here, and it’s making me and a friend of mine uncomfortable.”

Her father frowned, and got out of the car. He stood at his full impressive height, and crossed his muscular arms. “Did they stop? Did they say anything?”

“They did, dad,” Angela said, suddenly nervous, “But right now, we would just like to get away from here. Would you mind if I brought my friend home with us, so maybe you can help?”

“Of course,” he said without hesitation. “Is your friend in trouble?”

“Maybe,” Angela admitted. She bit her lip. She never lied to her father. “And… We actually just met her.”

“Angela,” Her father groaned.

“She seems nice,” Angela burst out, “And she really does need help. I think those guys in the van were looking for her. I can’t just leave her here.”

“Of course not,” Her father said. “Alright. Let’s take her to our place, and we can talk through it.”

Angela grinned. “Thank you,” She said before turning to rush back inside the fence line.

Angela slowed once she was once again in the darkness under the bleachers. She called, “Are you still here?”

“Yes,” The woman said, once more stepping forward. She was still wrapped in the blanket.

“Slight change of plan,” Angela said. “You’re coming home with my father and me, and we’ll help you. We might stop for some food on the way, if you’re hungry.”

The woman nodded, stepping into the light once more. “That would be nice,” She admitted. “I am hungry.”

Angela turned to call to her friends, “Coast clear?”

“Yep,” Broadway called back.

Angela led the woman to her father’s car. She opened the rear door, and helped her inside. Once the woman was in the darkened interior of the car, she laid down and was completely covered by the blanket.

No one from outside would see anything other than a covered back seat. Perfect.

Angela closed the door, and motioned to the guys. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Brooklyn called back, frowning in confusion.

“Yeah,” Angela drawled out, “and we have a test to study for. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” Brooklyn said, slapping his forehead. “Sorry, Ang. I forgot.”

“Sure you did,” Angela said. Frowning, she turned to Lexington, “I know you walked here, but please don’t walk home alone. Those guys…I don’t know,” She rubbed her arms as if warding away a chill.

“Don’t worry,” Broadway said. “I’ll make sure he gets home alright.”

“Thanks,” She returned with a smile.

“Shall we go?” Her father asked impatiently. “I just got off of work, and would like to eat before we deal with…” He gestured to the backseat of the car, “Whatever is going on.”

“Yes, father,” She said with a smile. She waved to the boys, watching as Lexington got into the older grey car.

Together, both vehicles and Brooklyn on his sport bike pulled away from the stadium.

As they pulled away, Angela looked into the side view mirror, just in time to see the black van creep into the parking lot one more time. She wasn’t the only one to see it, and grabbed hold of the door handle as her father whipped around the corner, and back   
into the lot. “Angela, get the plate number,” He ground out angrily. No one was going to threaten his daughter. He didn’t know what kind of trouble the woman in his back seat was in, but something in his gut… call it cop’s instinct… said that something wasn’t right.

As he drove by, he slowed long enough to be able to read his daughter the plate identification. For good measure, he even called it in over the radio for any nearby officers to come help. He stayed in the area until he saw the black and white of an NYPD officer pull in to the parking area before leaving.

Normally, he would stay and help, but not with his daughter in the car. 

He just hoped he was doing the right thing.


	4. Chapter 4

Angela and her father drove straight home from the football fields. It was a relatively short drive, but the silence filled tension in the car made the ride almost seem endless.

Once they got to their apartment building’s underground parking, they were lucky enough to be able to find a spot right by the elevators. Angela got out as soon as the car stopped, and opened the back door to check on their passenger.

The woman peeked at her from under the blanket.

“We’re home,” Angela said softly. “We can talk when we get up to our apartment.”

The woman nodded, and sat up. Still holding the blanket so that only her face was visible, she walked between Angela and her father as they entered the elevator. 

She’d been in an elevator a few times now, but didn’t like them. It was too confining, too small a space, and it was odd to be moving while standing still.

Once the elevator reached its destination, Angela hurried forward to unlock the door and hold it open for her father and their unexpected guest.

“You said you were hungry,” Her father said, running his hand through his dark hair that matched his daughter’s. “When was the last time you ate?”

The woman blink at him in surprise. “I ate yesterday,” She said, her husky voice low and uncertain.

“Angela,” He said, reaching in his back pocket and withdrawing his wallet, “Go order a couple of pizzas from Mateo’s, will you?”

“Okay,” She said, glancing from her father to the woman. “Any particular toppings?”

When the woman frowned, she sighed. “I’ll just order a few with everything on it.”

“Thank you,” Her father said, patting her shoulder. “I think there are some coupons on the refrigerator.” After his daughter retreated to the kitchen to make the call, he sighed and gestured to the living area. “Please, have a seat. We can talk, and try to figure out how to help you.”

The woman’s eyes went wide, and she clutched the blanket tighter around her.

“Please,” He asked again, unwilling to move until she did. 

The woman moved slowly, but made her way to the oversized recliner and sat down.

“Alright,” He said, heaving a grateful sigh as he sat. It had been a long night. He was going to be thankful when he could return to his overnight shifts. “How about we start with your name?”

The woman hung her head.

“She doesn’t know it, dad,” Angela said from the doorway. “Pizza will be here in twenty minutes. Would you like breadsticks?”

Her father waved a hand at her, and Angela retreated back into the kitchen.

“You do not know your name?” He asked.

“I do not have one,” She said, meeting his eyes for the first time.

He met those solid brown eyes, so sad and lost, that it was almost like a physical blow. 

“Alright,” He said, frowning. “Where did you come from?”

“Scotland,” the woman said. She sent a look through the large windows at the city lights beyond, “But I’m not even sure where I am now.”

The man’s eyebrows rose. “You are a long way from Scotland,” He said softly.

The woman nodded sadly. “Yes,” She said in that husky voice of hers.

“You were hiding,” He said, deciding to get to the heart of things. Drawing this out wouldn’t do much good, and she was already visibly upset. “Were you running from the men in the van?”

“Yes,” She said, looking down at the floor. 

“Why?” He asked.

“They weren’t nice people,” She said. “They wanted me to do bad things.”

He frowned, and leaned forward in his seat, “Bad things?”

She nodded. “I didn’t know they were bad,” She said, “Not right away.”

“But once you found out?” He asked.

“I tried to leave,” She said softly. “I almost didn’t get away.” She looked up into his eyes, and gone was the sadness. Now they held a determination. “But I did, and I won’t go back.”

“Father,” Angela called out from the doorway, drawing his attention from the unknown woman in his living room. She motioned for him to follow her.

He sighed. “I will be back,” He said, getting to his feet and following her into the kitchen. 

“She was so scared,” Angela said softly. “She was hiding under the bleachers at the football field. Wherever she was, whatever they did to her, it was bad.”

He nodded, thoughtfully. “I am not sure we are the best to help her. I should take her to the station and let others know.”

“Know what?” Angela asked softly. “We still don’t know what happened to her. If anyone can get her to talk, it’s you. You have already gotten more out of her than we did back at the school. I’ll hang out in here, and you keep talking. Please.”

He sighed. “Alright,” He said heavily. He just hoped he didn’t regret this.

He returned to the living room, and sat on the couch facing the woman. “You are probably having a hard time trusting people,” He said in a soothing voice that he usually reserved for people he met on the job who had experienced trauma. "So, how about we start from the beginning.” He held out a hand to her.

“I am happy to meet you,” He said with a small smile. “My name is Goliath.”

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ 

The woman hesitated, and he dropped his hand and sighed. 

“Alright,” Goliath said. “Do you know any of the men who were making you do these ‘bad things’?”

The woman nodded. “I heard a few,” She admitted. 

Goliath rose, and collected a yellow legal pad and pen from his desk in the corner. He returned to his seat and placed the paper on the arm of the couch. “I would like you to give me as much information as you can,” He said softly. “Any names that you can tell me, the location that you were being kept, and anything else you can remember.”

The woman looked at him wearily. Goliath could see that she was debating with herself, about how much she could trust him.

“Could we go outside?” She asked, pointing to the rooftop access outside his windows.

Goliath frowned, “Why?”

“I would like to show you something,” She said, standing. “If you still want to help me after that, then we can talk.”

Goliath hesitated, but in the end, he stood. “Alright,” He said softly, and walked to the sliding doors. He slid them open, and allowed her to go through first.

Once they were both outside, he closed the doors behind him without taking his eyes off of her. “Now,” He said, crossing his arms, “What would you like to show me?”

The female took a deep breath, and he watched her blanket covered shoulders rise and fall with the action.

Angela opened the door just as the female dropped the blanket from around her shoulders, extending her wings for Goliath to see.

“Pizza’s here…Whoah!” Angela said, her eyes going wide in shock as she stumbled over a planter that she’d forgotten was there. One minute she was staring, dumbfounded, at the winged form standing in front of her father….

The next, she had fallen over the low stone wall that ringed the rooftop was plunging downward. Fast.

Angela screamed, covering her face so that she didn’t have to see the ground rushing up towards her. Instead of hitting the ground, however, a pair of arms caught her and brought her up short. 

Angela peeked through her fingers, and stared at the face of the woman that she’d been trying to help.

The one who had…

“Wings?” She gasped out, looking at the foreign appendages that were currently holding the two of them aloft.

The female sighed. “I am sorry,” She said. “I did not mean to scare you.”

Angela looked up to where her father was hanging over the railing and calling for her.

“Uh,” Angela said pointing upwards, “Maybe we should go back up.”

“Yes,” The woman said softly. She twisted and angled her body to catch enough of an updraft to carry them upwards. Moments later, Angela was being set gently down onto the narrow ledge of their apartment.

“Angela,” Her father cried out, gathering his daughter into his arms and holding her close.

“Sorry dad,” Angela said softly.

“Go inside,” Goliath said softly, giving Angela a gentle push towards the windows that lead back inside, but didn’t take his eyes from the female in front of him. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“But…” Angela began, but quieted under the stern gaze of her father.

“Go,” He said, the tone in his voice clearly stating that he would accept no further arguments.

Angela threw an apologetic look at her savior before doing as she was told.

The female sat on the low wall, her face set in a combined expression of defiance and pride.

Her eyes held both weariness and fear, though, and that got through to Goliath faster than anything she could have said.

Goliath crossed his arms, his stiff shoulders rising and falling on a deep sigh. He had questions, but they could wait. 

He didn’t know who… or what… she was, but she had saved his daughter’s life. For that reason, he would be patient. If she wanted to hurt them, she could have.

“Dinner is here,” He said softly. “Would you like to eat before we talk?”

Some of the fear faded from her eyes, but the weariness was still there as she nodded.

“Come,” He said, sliding the window opening and leading the way.


	5. Chapter 5

It had started out as a silent meal, each one sending uneasy looks to the others.

Angela couldn’t hold it in for long, however, and soon the questions began bursting forth. 

“What are you?” Angela burst out, then cringed. “That was rude, sorry.”

Normally, Goliath would have scolded his daughter, but in all honesty, he wanted to hear the answers as well.

The female looked at her and blinked a few times, clearly caught by surprise. She had not taken a bite of the pizza yet, seeming confused by it as if she had never seen a pizza slice before. 

She gently placed the slice back on its plate.

“I’m a Gargoyle,” She said softly. 

Angela frowned. “You mean, like the stone statues on the top of buildings?”

The female frowned, and Angela pulled out her phone to pull up pictures to illustrate her thoughts. Finding what she was looking for, she held out the phone.

The female approached her hesitantly, and looked at the phone’s display. She ran a taloned finger over the picture.

“Similar, but…” the female frowned, “But these are statues. They are not alive like me and my…”

“Your what?” Goliath encouraged. 

The female gargoyle’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “My family was killed… a long time ago.”

“A long time ago?” Angela asked. “How long ago?”

“I…” She started, but was stopped short by a pounding at the front door.

Goliath got to his feet, holding his fingers to his lips to keep the females quiet. He went to the hall tree, and cautiously took his gun from his shoulder holster that he had hung there when they had gotten home that evening. He checked the safety, then held it at the ready as he approached his door.

He put his eye to the peephole in the door, eyes narrowing as he spotted the two men in black suits. He knew one of the men, and it did not bode well.

Looking over his shoulder, he motioned for Angela and the gargoyle to be quiet, then pointed to the windows leading to outside.

Angela grabbed the Gargoyles arm, pulling her towards the rooftop.

As the girls ducked out of sight, the pounding on the door happened again. Five distinct “knocks” that sounded like balled up fists hitting the wooden door, rather than polite knocking.

This was obviously not a social call.

Goliath lowered his weapon to the side of his leg, then opened the door only as far as he needed to see out.

“Can I help you?” He answered briskly.

“Officer Mason,” The speaker, a tall man with long, dark hair held back in a ponytail replied. His voice was smooth, business heavy, and made Goliath’s teeth grind.

David Xanatos. Eccentric rich guy, and had his fingers in all sorts of shady deals across the city. His name and photo had been crossing Goliath’s desk for years, but no one could get anything on him.

“Mr. Xanatos,” Goliath acknowledged. “How may I help you?”

“It seems that you may be in possession of something that belongs to me.” He said. “Your car was spotted in the last known place it had been spotted.”

Goliath shook his head firmly. “I have nothing of yours,” He said firmly. 

“Would you mind if we took a look around?” He said, straightening the cuffs of his coat.

“Yes, I would.” Goliath said. 

He raised an eyebrow. “You would willingly keep a possibly dangerous… thing… in your possession? Especially when it does not belong to you?”

Goliath raised an eyebrow at him. “You are neither a policeman nor am I legally required to let you come inside my home. So, no, you may not come in.”

The unknown man with Xanatos, who despite being dressed in a suit, had ‘street thug’ rolling off of him, took a threatening step towards Goliath.

Goliath shook his head. “I am a police officer, so I would encourage you not to take another step.”

The man stopped short, his hands clenching in fists at his sides.

Suddenly, Angela screamed from behind him, and Goliath swung around, instinctively running for the roof.

Goliath threw the doors open, and spotted his daughter pointing at the shadowed figure of the female gargoyle in the distance.

“Dad,” She said in a breathless, frightened tone, flinging herself into her father’s arms. “What was that?”

Goliath frowned at his daughter, just as he realized that Xanatos and his thug had come running in behind him.

“It’s heading to the park, sir,” The thug said.

“Let’s go,” Xanatos said, and the two of them ran back through the apartment.

“What...” Goliath began as Angela withdrew from his arms. She turned to stare in the direction the gargoyle had gone.

“She told me to scream,” Angela said, scanning the horizon. “She said they would follow her and leave us alone.”

“She was heading to Central Park,” Goliath said, rushing back inside. He got into his shoulder rig in record time, grabbed his brown leather bomber jacket and his badge. “Lock the door behind me,” Goliath instructed Angela as he ran out the door.

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ 

Normally, Goliath loved Central Park.

In the dead of night, looking for a single person… gargoyle… it was going to be almost impossible.

He didn’t understand this need to protect her, this pull to be out here and searching.

He had started at the south eastern corner, and had driven down as many of the drivable paths through the park that he could. 

Then he had come in on foot. It had already been nearly 2 hours now, with no sign of her. She probably wasn’t even still there, if she had indeed come here in the first place.

If it were him, he probably would have kept going and never looked back.

He shook his head. 

Okay, maybe not. But he had his daughter, his friends and family to protect. That would have kept him there.

She, on the other hand, seemed to have nothing.

Almost growling in frustration, he kept up his search. 

The sound of a motorcycle broke into his thoughts as he neared one of the transverse crossings. He looked up to see Angela’s friends Lexington and Brooklyn astride the nearly ancient motorbike, with Angela’s (Gag) boyfriend’s car coming to a stop behind it.

The passenger window of the car rolled down to reveal his daughter inside. 

“Have you found her?” Angela called out.

Goliath frowned at her. He shook his head in answer as he asked a question of his own, “Why are you not at home?”

“I’m not going to just sit at home, when I could come and help,” Angela said.

“We’re all here to help,” Brooklyn said, raising the visor on his helmet.

“Yeah,” Lexington said, removing his helmet altogether. “Angela told us about what happened, and we want to help.”

“A girl with wings,” Brooklyn said, shaking his head. “It’s hard to believe, but…”

“But Angela doesn’t lie,” Broadways said, jumping to his daughter’s defense.

Goliath nodded. While it irritated him, having his daughter dating, but she was an adult and he trusted her to make her own choices. 

His and Angela’s relationship had not always been an easy one. He had been married once before, and while it had started off wonderful, it had not ended well. After 9/11, he had felt compelled to join the military to protect his country. She had not cared for that idea in the slightest, and had made her opinion known. After he had gone overseas, they had separated, and unbeknownst to him, she had been pregnant. She had left their child in the care of a very nice couple, and had gone about her business. 

He had only found out about Angela a few years ago, and they were still working on mending the rift those missing years had caused.

She had a good heart, a protective streak a mile long, and she had definitely given him a new outlook on life.

She also had some amazingly loyal friends.

His daughter was also stubborn, and he could see it in her eyes now. She was prepared to help, and nothing he said was going to change that.

Goliath sighed. “Fine,” he said. He started shouting orders, “I started in the South Eastern corner. Angela, you and Broadway, head to the South West, towards the Tavern on the green area. Brooklyn, you and Lexington Start at the Tavern, but head North. Go to the North West corner and wait there. My car is parked in the South East, and I am heading North as well. Hopefully, if she recognizes my car, she will know that we are here looking for her. Do you all have your phones on you?”

After they all confirmed that, yes, they had their phones, “Good,” Goliath said, glancing at his watch, “If we get to our designated areas, and no one sees her within the next hours, call me, and we’ll re-group.” With that, they separated and continued the search.  
It was hard, since they didn’t have a name to call out to find her, and it would be difficult walking around shouting “gargoyle” with Xanatos and his men looking for her as well, so he just continued walking the paths, making as much noise as he could to draw attention.

He was just passing the Conservatory gardens when another helicopter flew overhead. Goliath glanced up to try to see it, when a hand reached out and pulled him into a strand of tall bushes.

“What are you doing here?” The voice hissed, and he found himself face to face with a very irritated Gargoyle. “I left your home so that you would be safe.”

“We could not leave you out here alone,” He said.

“I appreciate your concern,” She said angrily. “But I…” She trailed off, and turned towards where the Helicopter was banking into a wide turn.

As she turned her head, Goliath spotted a small red light by her shoulder. He reached out and removed the small tracking device.

“At least we know how they’ve been able to find you,” Goliath bit out as the gargoyle looked at him in surprise.

“What’s that?” She asked, bringing up a hand to cover the red mark that removing the tracker had left on her skin.

“It’s a tracking device,” He said looking around quickly. Reaching up, he threw the tracker as far as he could to the South, then took her hand. 

“Come on, if we can get to the wooded area in the North West,” Goliath said, taking a breath, “We have help waiting for us.”

“Alright,” She said, and together they ran.


	6. Chapter 6

They made it to the cover of the wooded area, all the while watching as the helicopters began circling in the direction he’d thrown the tracker.

He was a little winded, but not completely out of breath. He took his phone out of his pocket and called Angela.

“I found her,” He said. “Come to the woods, and we can get her out of here.”

“OK, dad,” She said, “Brooklyn and Lexington are in that direction. I’ll call them too.”

Goliath pressed the end call button, and turned back to the gargoyle.

She wasn’t paying attention, though. Her gaze was on the lightening horizon in the East.

“It’s too late,” She said sadly. She turned to face him. “You should leave. Go somewhere safe.”

Goliath frowned at her. “We are going to get you to safety.”

She shook her head. “It’s too late.”

“I do not understand,” He said.

“You will,” She said, stepping back from him. She knelt on the ground, her wings flaring behind her as she bowed her head as if in thought.

He watched in utter amazement as her skin turned to stone before his eyes.

Oh, this was not good…

He ran to be closer to the street, and flagged down the two boys on the bike to his location. Next, he called Angela, told her to use her extra set of keys to take his car home, and to send Broadway to join the other two boys.

Angela wanted to protest, but Goliath insisted on getting her word on the matter.

He won… finally… and she was on her way home.

Goliath ended the call just as Brooklyn and Lexington got there. He told them to stay on the street side until Broadway got there, then for the three of them to Join Goliath in the woods, even pointing to the spot where he had left the Gargoyle.

“You found her?” Brooklyn asked, relieved. He took his helmet off as he lowered his kickstand.

Lexington swung off the back of the bike, and removed his own helmet. “Where is she?”

He told them to stay on the street side until Broadway got there, then for the three of them to Join Goliath in the woods, even pointing to the spot where he had left the Gargoyle.

He didn’t tell them what they would find. He didn’t believe it himself, really, but the night had been full of surprises. What was one more at this point?

He returned to the small clearing, and gazed at the gargoyle. It was hard to see, what with her being encased in stone and all, but she really was a pretty thing. 

She had said that she was from Scotland, he mused. He wondered how she had gotten here, and if there were more like her in Manhattan somewhere.

Then he wondered if Manhattan was ready for that.

There was a loud crashing in the brush, and some soft swearing that alerted Goliath to the boys approaching. He turned to face them as they came into the small area, Broadway plucking a small branch from his hair.

Well, at least he knew who had fallen, Goliath thought. 

“Is she okay?” Broadway asked, straightening his shirt. He was still dressed in his football gear from last night, as were the other two.

“She is here,” Goliath said, motioning to the stone figure.

“She really does have wings,” Brooklyn said, blinking a few times.

“Hey,” Broadway said, giving his friend a shoulder bump. “Angela said she did. Think she’d lie to us?”

Lexington ignored the other two’s antics. He tilted his head and moved closer to the gargoyle to that he was almost nose to nose with her. “What happened to her?”

Goliath shook his head. “I do not know,” He admitted. “It happened at sunrise.”

“Think she’ll snap out of it?” Brooklyn asked.

“Or is it… Permanent?” Broadway asked.

Goliath rubbed at his forehead. These three were giving him a migraine.

“Boys,” He said, getting their attention. “I need you guys to keep an eye on Angela. The men who are looking for her,” He gestured to the statue, “Came to the apartment last night. I don’t want her there alone.”

“What about you?” Lexington asked.

“I will stay here,” Goliath said firmly. “I owe it to her to make sure that she’s safe.”

Broadway nodded. “We can go stay at your apartment and make sure no one bothers her.”

“Thank you,” Goliath said, wearily. He had worked a day shift yesterday, and hadn’t slept at all that night. Luckily, with him going back to overnight shifts, the captain had given him a day off to re-adjust and get his sleep schedule back on track. 

The boys went back to the vehicles, and Goliath sank down next to the statue. He leaned back against the side of the statue, crossed his arms and bowed his head. 

Thanks to his time in the military, he had learned how to nap so that he could wake at the slightest noise. He called upon that habit now, as he tried to get a little rest.

He heard a rustle of branches almost right away, and whipped his head up.

Brooklyn re-entered the clearing. “Broadway and Lexington are on their way to your place,” He said, moving to sit on the other side of the statue. “She’s covered.”

“Why are you here?” Goliath asked.

Brooklyn gave him a shrug. “I didn’t feel right leaving you here by yourself. I may not be a cop,” He said, leaning back to unconsciously mimic Goliath’s posture, “But I figure two pairs of eyes are better than one.”

“Thank you,” Goliath said after a moment.

The two men took turns resting that day, both coming awake when even the quietest joggers came to close to their spot. 

One came close enough to see them, and mentioned that he’d never seen that statue before on this path.

“Yeah,” Brooklyn said, undeterred, “They add new stuff all the time.”

Goliath chuckled. This kid had a mouth oh him. It should annoy him, but for some odd reason it didn’t. 

And so on the day went. A few times their phones rang, and it was either Angela, Broadway or Lexington calling to check in. 

Goliath had passed Brooklyn some cash a few times to go hit up various food vendors.

It was late afternoon when the other three couldn’t wait anymore and joined them at the park. Angela had brought the large blanket, and a large meal from the fried chicken place nearby.

The five of them ate, conversed and joked around in an effort to dispel the heavy weight of uncertainty that was hanging over them all.

“I would like to ask a question of you three,” Goliath said, unable to hold it in any longer. “What is the meaning behind the nicknames?”

The boys blinked at him.

“My name is Lewis,” Lexington said with a grin, “Tell me you wouldn’t prefer something, ANYTHING, other than that. Brooklyn had his nickname first, then Broadway, so I chose mine to match theirs.”

Goliath raised a brow at the revelation, and turned to Broadway. “And you?”

Broadway shrugged. “I prefer Broadway because it has a kind of ‘Oomph’ behind it, and sounds better when the announcers call it on the football field.”

Brooklyn wouldn’t make eye contact, and Goliath narrowed his gaze at him. “Brooklyn?”

Brooklyn sighed and mumbled something.

The other four leaned forward to hear him. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Angela asked with a grin.

Brooklyn heaved a sigh. “It’s not a nickname,” He ground out between his teeth. “Everyone thinks it is, but it’s not. My name really is Brooklyn.”

The three other young people stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Seriously?” Lexington said, looking crushed. “You mean we made up our names to match yours... and I could have picked a cooler nickname?”

“Lexington is fine,” Angela gasped out.

“Yeah, Lex,” Brooklyn said sarcastically. “At least you had the chance to name yourself.”

Goliath listened absently to the young people tease each other, and glanced up as the nearby street lamp came on. The last of the daylight was leaving the sky as the blues, reds and golds were fading to herald the coming of night. They had been there all day, and he wondered if anything was going to change, or if they had all had a mass delusion and were wasting their time.

Earlier, when he’d sent Brooklyn out for food, he had tried to move the statue, but he hadn’t even been able to rock it. They would need a crane to move her, and so they stayed in hopes that something would happen soon.

The last of the daylight fled the sky, and Goliath felt the statue rock. He jumped to his feet as the sound of stone cracking met all of their ears. He hurried to stand between the kids and the statue, unsure of what was about to happen, but determined to shield them.

When the female burst free in s shower of stone fragments and dust, her eyes glowing red, he had a brief moment to wonder if they were about to meet their collective maker.

Then the female settled her wings around her shoulders as if she were wearing a cape, and blinked at them in confusion. She seemed to take them all in, as well as the blanket and food remnants.

Her eyes met Goliath’s. “Have you been here all day?”

“Yes,” he said, lowering his arms now that the threat, real or imagined, had passed.

“We wanted to make sure you were safe,” Brooklyn said with a shrug.

“We’ve been worried,” Angela added.

The gargoyle smiled at them. “I am fine, thank you. For everything.”

“We should get out of here,” Broadway said, glancing around nervously. “If those guys know what you are…”

“Then they know that you’ll be awake now,” Goliath finished as the thought hit him as well.

“I’ll go get my car,” Broadway said, grabbing for his keys. 

Angela gathered up the food containers and shoved it all back in the take out bag. “We can use the blanket again,” She said.

“Come on, Lex,” Brooklyn said, already heading to the street. “We can follow on the bike.”

The gargoyle watched them scramble, a look of concern on her face. “I don’t want to put you in any more danger,” She said firmly.

“Where would you go?” Goliath asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted with a shrug, her wings rusting with the action.

“Come home with us,” Goliath said softly. “We will figure something out, but it is unsafe for us to be out in the open like this.”

The gargoyle nodded, and Goliath bent to pick up the blanket. He was about to hand it to her when there was a loud squeal of tires from a few feet away.

The gargoyle and two humans hurried forward, to look through the trees to the road. 

Two black vans were speeding up behind Brooklyn on his bike, as Brooklyn was trying desperately to stay ahead of them.

Goliath grimaced, and went to reach for his firearm… only to realize that the gargoyle wasn’t there. He looked around, only to see her launch herself into the air from a tall tree.

His gaze flew back to the roadway, and watched in amazement as the gargoyle swooped in, grabbed Brooklyn under his arms, and lifted him off of his bike just before the van made contact with the rear tire. The now driverless bike wobbled, landed on its side, and was promptly run over as the heavy van bumped its way over it.

The van screeched to a halt as two armed bodies jumped out to take aim at the airborne bodies.

Goliath ran forward, his own firearm in his hands. Two bright laser weapon shots were fired before he could do anything, and he saw the gargoyle weave in the air before pulling up higher.

“Police!” Goliath identified himself in a yell, his firearm raised and prepared for danger.

The two black-clad goons glanced at each other as they turned to dive back in to the van and take off.

The back tires bumped their way over the flattened bike as they took off, leaving anyone behind them in a cloud of exhaust and the smell of burning rubber.

Goliath looked around frantically. Where had they gone?

“Dad,” Angela cried and pointed, “Over there.”

In the distance, the only dark spot moving against the back-lit skyline of the city, was the Gargoyle. As she came nearer, he could just make out the dangling legs of what he assumed was Brooklyn.

Angela waved frantically in the air, and the figure turned in their direction.

With a ‘whoosh’ sound, the gargoyle came low enough to set Brooklyn down on his feet. He had to take a few running steps, stumbled a bit, but eventually came to a stop without ending up on the ground. Eyes wide, he scanned the area around him.

“That was…,” He took a steadying breath. “Awesome,” He finished with a grin.

Angela went to him to make sure he was really alright, while Goliath sprinted to where the gargoyle had touched down a few feet away.

“Are you alright?” He asked, as the Gargoyle seemed to be rubbing at her shoulder.

“I’m fine,” She said with a grimace. “I am just not used to carrying so much weight for such a long time,” She admitted. “I can carry a lot,” She said with a shrug, dropping her hand, “But he struggled a bit at first.”

“Yeah,” Brooklyn said, flushing a little. “Sorry about that.”

Two short horn bursts sounded nearby, and the group knew that they had to leave.

Now.

Before those guys came back.

Angela swept the blanket back up off of the ground, and tossed it around the gargoyle’s shoulders. The three humans strode quickly to the older car, careful to keep the gargoyle in the center of their group as an added precaution, and it was back into the back seat with her.

“Wait,” Brooklyn said, “My bike…”

His shoulders drooped as he finally spotted the twisted mess that had been his bike. “Damn,” He said softly. “I loved that thing.”

“Here,” Lexington said, leaping from the car. “Quick. Let’s move it into the bushes, and we can come back for it later.”

The boys dragged the bike into the wooded area, then hightailed it back to the car.

“Get in the car, guys!” Angela called out, her voice rising in panic. 

It was a tight fit, getting the six of them in the same car, but they had no choice. In the end, at Goliath’s insistence, the humans sat in the seats with the seatbelts, with Angela in the front passenger seat. The gargoyle laid across the legs of the people in the back seat to keep her as hidden as possible.

“Oof,” Brooklyn and Lexington exclaimed as the full weight of the deceptively small female settled her weight on them.

“Sorry,” She said softly.

Goliath patted her shoulder in comfort. “We are not far from our home,” He said reassuringly. 

“Yeah,” Brooklyn said, in a pained voice. “Hit it Broadway.”

“Do not speed,” Goliath said. “Do not give anyone cause to pull us over.”

“Yes, sir,” Broadway said as he carefully pulled out into the light evening traffic.


	7. Chapter 7

It was with some relief when twenty minutes later, they pulled into the parking structure of the Mason’s apartment building. 

The two boys in the back groaned loudly as the gargoyle was able to get out and the weight was lifted from their legs. The gargoyle apologized again, and they waved her apologies away, even as they rubbed their legs to get the circulation flowing again.

Within minutes, they were all crowded around in the Mason’s living room. 

“Just out of curiosity,” Angela said, turning to the boys, “Where do your families think you are tonight?”

“His house,” the boys all said, pointing to each other.

Angela rolled her eyes. “Okay. Glad I asked.”

Goliath went to the kitchen, bringing out an armload of bottled water. He tossed each kid a bottle and watched as the only one who seemed to fumble it was the gargoyle.

She lifted the bottle, and watched as the water moved within the clear plastic in fascination.

Taking pity on her, Goliath walked over to her and opened the bottle for her.

“So…,” Angela said hesitantly, trying to break up the awkward silence that had fallen. “You’re from Scotland?”

The gargoyle nodded. “Yes.”

“Really?” Broadway asked. “Where from?”

“Castle Wyvern,” She answered.

Goliath frowned, “Why do I know that name?”

“It’s the name of the castle that gazillianaire Xanatos moved here and put on his building downtown,” Lexington said. He shrugged when everyone swerved to look at him. “What?”

“Dork,” Brooklyn coughed into his hand.

Lexington glared at him. “Why am I friends with you again?”

Brooklyn shrugged, “Lack of options?”

Broadway rolled his eyes. “Because we’re cool?”

Goliath growled in frustration. Gods save him from teenagers. He was tired, hungry, and these kids were giving him a headache.

“Okay,” Angela said, getting to her feet. “You guys go ahead and get the banter out of the way.” She placed a hand on the gargoyle’s elbow and gently turned her to the short hallway to her bedroom. “We’re going to have some girl time.”

“Girl time?” The gargoyle whispered.

“Trust me,” Angela said with a smile. “These guys, when they get going, can keep at it for hours. In the meantime,” She looked at the Gargoyle thoughtfully, “Let’s see about getting you something decent to wear.”

The gargoyle frowned. “What is wrong with this?”

Angela took in the dingy and torn looking short dress, the thick brown leather belt and the small but full bag attached to it, and sighed. “Let’s just get you into something a little more… modern.” She looked at the room full of males. “You guys get some food, and we’ll be back.”

As the females ducked into the room, Angela could make out the beginnings of a debate about Chinese food versus the local Mexican place that delivered. She mentally rolled her eyes. That should keep them busy for a while.

She dug through her closet and came up with a glossy gift bag. She frowned at it, glanced inside, and knew she’d hit pay dirt.

Perfect.

She had rustled around and found a new shirt that her mother had sent her for her birthday, and altered it a bit to accommodate the gargoyle’s wings, and a pair of blue denim Capri pants. The pants had been interesting, and provided a challenge because of the tail issue, however Angela had overcome that with a pair of scissors, some safety pins and the belt that the gargoyle had been wearing.

She was curious about the pouch, but decided to ask later. Right now, the female seemed overly anxious about keeping it with her, so Angela left it alone.

She entered the room as the boys were just hauling in bags of delivery food. It seems that no one could decide on a single place, as Angela spotted bags from ‘Tres Hermanos’, the Mexican place a few blocks away that delivered late on Saturdays, as well as the Chinese food from the ‘Lucky Dragon’. There were also boxes of pizza on the counter, the leftovers from the dinner no one had a chance to eat last night.

The boys were jockeying for position to dish up the eclectic buffet that had been spread over every available surface between the living room and the kitchen, not even acknowledging the females right away.

The boys had been waiting impatiently, as they each had a list of things to ask the Gargoyle about. The argument over food had lasted all of three minutes until Goliath told them in a near roar to just order from both places, and he would pay for it as long as they stopped fighting.

Then, it was back to waiting.

Then… the food arrived.

Finally, Angela called out for everyone’s attention as they full entered the living room.

The gargoyle followed, and every male’s eyes almost popped out of their head as they caught sight of her. 

“Ahem,” Angela cleared her throat and glared pointedly at Broadway.

“Sorry,” He flushed red as he looked away from the gargoyle.

“I do not recognize that shirt,” Goliath said with a frown.

Angela shrugged. “Mom sent it to me for my birthday, but it’s not really my style.”

“It looks expensive,” He said, chiding her gently.

“It’s an original Elisa Van Jooten shirt,” Angela rolled her eyes. “But I don’t like to wear dark colors, so I haven’t ever worn it. I was going to donate it somewhere, but it was needed here.”

Goliath frowned. There was no love lost between him and his ex-wife, but she had been trying to make an effort to have a relationship with Angela lately. It was too bad that Domonique did not seem to realize that expensive clothing and other such gifts were not the way to do it.

“I have a question,” Broadway said, looking at the gargoyle. “Do you really not have a name?”

The gargoyle shook her head. “No.”

“Why not?” Lexington asked.

The gargoyle shrugged. “When I had my clan…” She stopped and cleared her throat. “When I was home with my clan, there were many of us. We were a family, and called each other brother, sister and friend. We had no need for names.”

“Yeah, but,” Brooklyn said, leaning forward a little, “You need a name. It’s something for us to use to identify you. It’s getting hard to just think of you as ‘she’ or ‘the gargoyle’.”

“Oh,” The gargoyle said, frowning thoughtfully. “Well…” She turned to Angela and pointed at her shirt. “What did you call this?”

“A shirt?” Angela said, confused.

“No, no,” The gargoyle said with a shake of her head. “What was the name?”

“Oh,” Angela said, finally understanding. “Elisa Van Jooten is the artist’s name.”

“Yes,” The gargoyle said, “That would work, wouldn’t it?”

“It is a long name,” Goliath said, thoughtfully. “Perhaps just ‘Elisa’ would be best.”

She smiled at him. “I like that name.”

“Very well,” Goliath said, extending his arm. “Welcome to Manhattan, Elisa.”

“Thank you,” Elisa said, reaching out to shake his hand.

“Would you mind if we ask you some questions?” Lexington asked, almost visibly bouncing in his seat.

Elisa looked at the room full of curious faces. “Go ahead and ask,” She said, kneeling on the floor. “I’ll answer what I can.”

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ 

What followed was almost a solid half hour of rapid-fire questions from the youngest members of the motley group.

At some point, Goliath had placed a plate full of food in front of Elisa, and she had managed to actually eat some of it. The Chinese dish was difficult to eat because she couldn’t figure out the chopsticks, and forks were almost as hard to use with the slippery noodles.

The Quesadillas were heaven, however. Those she could hold in her hand, and the combination of shredded chicken and cheese were unlike anything she had ever had before.

And how had she finally managed to have time to eat…? 

She had told them what TIME she was from, and they all sat in stunned silence. 

Elisa took full advantage of the break in the questions, and shoved some of the food in her mouth. At this point, she hadn’t eaten for two nights, since she hadn’t eaten before making her escape from the facility. 

Goliath, noticing the speed she was eating, and the notable trouble she had with the Chinese food, gathered the rest of the Quesadillas, and placed that in front of her as well.

Elisa gave him a look of such happiness over his gesture, that he couldn’t help wondering again where she had been kept.

“A thousand years,” Brooklyn mused.

“How did you survive this long?” Broadway asked, his plate of food temporarily forgotten.

“I had gone out with a group of my clan mates, trying to follow some invaders that had tried to attack the castle. We got caught away from the castle at sunrise and when we returned…” Elisa cleared her throat to fight past the grief that had been threatening to come to the surface for weeks now. “My clan mates who were there at the castle had been destroyed while in stone sleep. The humans were gone too, so we went out looking for them. The court mage thought that we were responsible for the Princess’s death, and he cast a spell on us. Then I woke here.”

“How long have you been here?” Angela asked with a frown. “I mean, if you’ve been outside, surely someone would have seen you and reported it to the news channels or something.”

Elisa frowned. She was trying to answer their questions, but honestly had no idea what they spoke of half the time.

“I woke here…” She frowned in thought. “Sixty two days ago.” She finished confidently.

“You have been kept somewhere for two months?” Angela’s jaw dropped.

Elisa nodded. “I woke up at the castle,” she said. “There was a man named Xanatos there, and he was nice to me. He told me that I was the only one to survive, that the others had been destroyed through the time between then and now. He even offered to let me stay at the castle as long as I needed to.” She brushed her hair behind one ear in a nervous gesture. “I went to sleep that morning, and woke in the lab-or-a-tory,” She pronounced the still odd word carefully, “And I was kept there.” She looked down, not making eye contact. “The people there… they started out nice, but they kept trying to ask me to do things to see how strong I was. How far and how long I could glide. Things like that.”

“What changed?” Goliath asked, leaning against the doorway. 

Elisa looked at him and gave a small shrug. “They wanted me to go retrieve some things from a big airship, and from a place underground, but it didn’t feel right. So, I returned without the items, and they weren’t happy.”

That was probably putting it mildly, Goliath thought.

“And that’s when you left?” Brooklyn asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Elisa nodded. “I asked them for one more chance at the airship,” She admitted. “They almost didn’t let me go, but in the end, they allowed it. I got in the ship, and then found a way out on a side where they weren’t watching.”

“And you found the football stadium,” Broadway said.

“I saw the lights, and the crowd of people,” Elisa said. “I didn’t think they would do anything with that many people watching.”

“You were smart,” Goliath admitted. “That was the right thing to do.”

Elisa seemed to perk up at the praise. 

“And now that we have gotten rid of the tracking device,” Goliath said, straightening to stand upright, “It will be easier to keep you away from them until we decide what to do.”

“What do you mean?” Elisa said.

Goliath shrugged. “Would you like to go home to Scotland?” He did some mental math. He wasn’t sure if he had the money to hire someone to fly her there, but he would do his best if that was what she wished.

Elisa shook her head sadly. “My family, my clan, is gone,” She said sadly. “Even my castle is no longer there on Scottish soil. I shouldn’t even be here, putting you all at risk, but I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do without a protectorate to watch over. That’s been all I have known.”

The humans all nodded, Angela wipes at the tears that had welled up during Elisa’s confession. 

“You will stay here tonight,” Goliath decreed. “Tomorrow, I must return to work, but we will try to think of options for you during the day.”

Elisa nodded.

“We will just need to make sure that you are hidden during the day,” Angela said, thoughtfully.

“No offense,” Brooklyn said, looking around the small apartment, “But judging from the explosion of stone bits when she wakes up, keeping her in here might be tricky.”

“And possibly property damaging,” Broadway said.

“I have an idea,” Lexington said, getting to his feet. “Do you still have that square folding table that we used to play cards on?”

“Yeah,” Angela said, not understanding where he was going with this. “It’s in the closet by the door.”

Lexington hurrying to the closet, and brought out the table. He dragged it into the center of the living room floor and unfolded it. “How small can you curl up to go to sleep?”

Elisa gave him a look that suggested that he was crazy, but stood to warp her wings firmly around her body. She then sat cross legged on the floor and bent over her feet like a gymnast doing stretches.

“Okay,” Lexington said, excitedly. “Stay there for a minute.” In a flash, he had the table placed over her, and the discarded picnic blanket draped over it. “There,” Lexington said, leaning against the table. If we put this out on the balcony, it will just look like a piece of furniture that was meant to be there.”

“And people won’t be able to see her from the air,” Angela said happily.

“It could work,” Goliath said, thoughtfully. “We will just need to remove the table from her before sunset to avoid… injury.”

“If we’re going to do it, we’d better do it soon,” Brooklyn said, gesturing to the windows where the sky was beginning to lighten.

There was a bump from under the table as Elisa sat up in surprise.

Together, the humans helped to set up the camouflage outside. Elisa sat under the table, and once the blanket was draped over it, she was hidden from view as she went into stone sleep.

With that done, and the excitement over for the day, the living room was suddenly filled with exhausted humans. Goliath and Angela retreated to their rooms to get sleep, while the boys slept wherever they were comfortable in the living room.

Goliath laid in his bed, exhausted, but with his mind so full of the events over the last two nights to fall asleep right away.

He wished that she could remember where the laboratory that she’d been held was. Or even complete names of those who had been mistreating her so badly. 

He clenched his hands that had been laying on his chest into fists. He became a detective in order to protect the people of this city, and knowing that something like this had happened angered him on a deep level within himself.

He had a place to start looking, but he couldn’t just approach Xanatos without giving away that he knew about Elisa.

He took a breath and unclenched his fists. He was not going to be good to anyone without rest.

Eventually, thankfully, he managed to drift into a restless sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The humans reconvened late that afternoon, and began brainstorming ideas.

They needed a place that was safe for Elisa. 

Where she could go unnoticed.

A place where they would be able to keep an eye on her in case she needed help.

As they uncovered the table and removed it from above Elisa so that she wouldn’t accidentally destroy the thing when she woke, they had to admit defeat.

They were no closer to finding answers then they had been that morning.

As Elisa’s stone skin began to crackle and crack, they turned their faces away to avoid getting stone bits in the face.

She burst free with a roar and a stretch.

As she entered the apartment again, the boys set up the table outside again to keep up appearances in case someone wondered why the table was there one night and gone the next.  
Paranoid, maybe, but they were determined to keep from getting attention.

Together, they ate a dinner composed of a combination of leftovers and sandwiches that Angela threw together for them all. They all laughed when Elisa had her first peanut Butter sandwich and devoured it like a kid with their first piece of candy. She enjoyed it so much, Angela made her two more.

“I am afraid that I must go to work,” Goliath said with a sigh, running his hand over his hair.. “I may not make it back before sunrise.”

“What does a De-tec-tive do?” Elisa asked, liking the last of the peanut butter from her fingers.

He thought about it for a moment. “I help people. I try to protect people, and when people do bad things, I try to find out who did it and make sure that they answer for their crimes.”

Elisa tilted her head at him. “You protect this city?” she asked slowly. “I think I would like to see what a detective does.”

“You could go with him,” Angela suggested. 

“Yeah,” Broadway said with a grin. “You could stay on the tops of the buildings, out of sight.”

Goliath thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Very well, but be sure to remain out of sight.”

Elisa nodded eagerly. 

Goliath looked at the others. “Thank you all for your help.”

Brooklyn shrugged. “No problem.”

“Yeah,” Lexington said with a smile. “We were happy to help.”

“Anytime,” Broadway said.

“Now,” Goliath said, grabbing his work gear, “You boys need to go home, get rest and be with your families.”

The boys’ faces fell. 

“Hey,” Lexington said, breaking into the suddenly sullen atmosphere. “We need to go get Brooklyn’s bike.”

“It got flattened,” Brooklyn moaned, rubbing his hands over his face.

“I think I can fix it,” Lexington said with a smile. 

Broadway looked up then. “We can put the rear seats down in my car, and haul it over to Lex’s.”

“Alright,” Brooklyn said, shaking his head. “If it’s even still there.”

“Come on,” Broadway said, taking Brooklyn by the shoulders and steering him to the door. “Let’s go.”

“Will you be alright here by yourself?” Goliath asked his daughter with a concerned look.

“I’ll be fine,” Angela insisted. “I will lock the door behind you and I can call you if anything happens.”

Goliath hesitated, but finally accepted what she said. “I will be back in the morning,” He promised her, giving her a hug. 

Elisa frowned. “Would you rather I stay here, and help keep watch with Angela?”

It was tempting, Goliath admitted to himself. But he also acknowledged that the longer she stayed at their home, the more the likelihood that someone would come looking for Elisa would be. He wanted Elisa safe, but to put his own child at risk…  
It was something that he would need to think on. 

“No,” Goliath said with a shake of his head. “For tonight, perhaps it would be best if you come with me. It will help you get familiar with this city so that you do not get lost.”

Elisa nodded.

After Angela had locked the door behind her father, she went out onto the rooftop and pointed out Goliath’s cherry red car for Elisa to follow. She also pointed out a few landmarks to help Elisa, and in the far distance, she could just make out the giant lit face of the Precinct’s clock tower.

Elisa stayed as high as she could and still keep Goliath’s car in sight. It hadn’t been an easy task, but she had finally come to rest on the large walkway that surrounded the clock tower above the 23rd precinct. Unsure of what to do next, Elisa settled on the ledge, and kept an eye on Goliath’s car. If he left, she wanted to be ready to follow him.

She was so focused on it that she failed to hear the footsteps behind her until the last moment.

Whirling, she braced for an attack, only to find Goliath behind her. 

“Come,” He said motioning for her to follow him inside. 

Once inside the tower itself, Elisa found a large stone room that, with the exception of all the contraptions inside, very much reminded her of the castle. It was all dark and stone work.

Elisa loved it there.

Goliath noticed her look, and smiled softly. He had forgotten about this place. The clock itself hadn’t worked in years, so the gears and metal works inside did not turn. The only thing that did work was the lights on the outside that showed through the clock face to light the room in a soft glow.

Then it hit him. It was a safe place, above the police station where Xanatos and his crew wouldn’t dare attack, and he had access to it every night so that he could check in on her.  
It was perfect.

There was a whole store room one floor below here that was full of furniture, mostly left over from previous Captains who decided to redecorate their offices. He could probably get some things up here for her just to make it more… homey, he guessed the word was.

He would have to run up some odds and ends for her, like a small refrigerator and perhaps something like a hot plate for her to cook food with, but it would work well for them all.

If she would agree to it, that is.

“Elisa,” He began hesitantly. “How would you like to stay here during the day?” 

Elisa’s head whirled towards him, and he saw the happiness in her expression. “This would be perfect,” She said. “A place where you wouldn’t have to hide me, and where I wouldn’t attract danger to your home.” 

Goliath nodded his agreement, thankful that she had thought of it on his own. He would start bringing things up in the morning to make her comfortable, after his shift.

Speaking of which…

He looked at his watch. “I am afraid that I must go,” He said, noting the time. 

Elisa tilted her head. “Would I be able to come with you tonight? I would still like to see what a detective does.”

Goliath nodded. “Just remember to stay to the building tops.”

Elisa nodded, and watched as he moved down the stairs to the station below.

After he disappeared from sight, Elisa returned to the railing to once again watch for Goliath’s car to move.

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ 

Goliath went on several minor calls that night, always keeping an eye out for Elisa to make sure that she was still with him. 

The last call of the night took him to a corner convenience store that had just been robbed. Again. He had been to this location several times in the past, and had even encouraged the owner to move to a different and safer location.

The owner was stubborn, and insisted that he couldn’t and wouldn’t move. The owner’s concern was for the people he served, because he was the only place to purchase food items in a several mile radius. He didn’t want to leave his customers without a way to get their groceries.

Goliath sighed. He understood the feeling of needing to help the community.

Goliath assured him that he would look around, and do his best to try to find the person responsible.

Goliath walked around the store to take a look at the back entrance, which is where the person had come in. The door had several dents, as if that wasn’t the first time a break in had been attempted. The key slot for the deadbolt was widened from whatever tool had been used so that it barely resembled the thin key slot that it should be.

Goliath took out his pen light, shining it into the slot and caught sight of an oddly shaped piece of metal inside the lock. He was leaning forward to try to take a closer look when a footstep sounded on the loose gravel of the alley behind him. 

He whirled, flashlight still in hand, and shined it into the face of the men responsible for the noise. 

There were three of them. One the of men in the back of the men who spoke twirled a length of chain in slow threatening circles in the air, the sliding of the metal links against each other creating an almost wind chime effect in the silent alley.

“Well, lookey here guys,” The man snarled, glancing at where Goliath’s badge lay against his chest on a lanyard. “We got ourselves a gen-u-ine officer with the N-Y-Freaking-P-D.”

There was a glint of something in the man’s hand. It was a weapon of some kind, but Goliath wasn’t taking his gaze from the man’s face. 

“Oh, I am going to love this,” The man sneered, taking a step forward.

Goliath took a fighting stance from his martial arts training, but before either the man or Goliath could act, there was a wooshing sound as Elisa swooped in and the criminal was airborne.

There was a loud crash as the man came to land in the grouping of metal garbage cans and stacked piles of black trash bags. There was the sound of tin cans and glass bottles rolling away down the uneven pavements of the alley, then… silence.

Goliath risked a glance at the other two to find them frozen in fear of the red-eyed gargoyle approaching them. Suddenly coming to their senses, they turned and ran screaming, dropping their weapons behind them.

“Nice to know that some things never change,” Elisa grumbled as she dusted her hands off.

Goliath drew his sidearm, holding it ready as he advanced on the man who seemed to be resting non-too-comfortably in the piles of garbage. He was unconscious, but still alive. Goliath called the situation in, requesting a pick up for the offender as he put the man’s wrists into handcuffs.

Turning, Goliath laid eye on his rescuer. Elisa was still poised, eyes once more normal and ready to spring into action should the man wake up and try to attack again.

“Thank you,” He said. 

Elisa blinked at him in surprise. “Of course,” She said with a frown. “I wasn’t going to just sit and watch you get hurt if there was something that I could do.

Goliath looked at her thoughtfully. “I take it that you have done this type of thing before.”

Elisa gave him a one shouldered shrug. “Gargoyles protect. It’s what we were all born to do. We were the guardians of our home and those who lived there. Like you do with this island. I would like to help you, now that this is my home.”

Goliath found himself grinning. “I have a feeling you may be one of the best things to happen to this city in a long time.”


	9. Chapter 9

Several nights had passed since Elisa’s first outing with Goliath, and she had happily joined him every night since.

Tonight was going to be different, however.

Angela and the guys had asked if she would like to come and see the game. It was homecoming, and the guys were anxious to “kick some cougar butt”… whatever that meant.

Goliath had offered to join her, as it was his night off, and he tried to go to games when he could to watch Angela cheer for the team. Admittedly, he also went to watch the boys, though he’d be the last to admit it.

The guys had become a semi-permanent fixture at his apartment lately, showing up to check up with Angela and keep up to date on Elisa. They had been doing some gathering of their own, and between the five of them, they had managed to scrape together enough to equip the clock tower with everything from a small armchair, to a television and even some random pieces of artwork featuring castles and medieval figures.

Goliath was thankful for the help, and impressed that they had taken on the responsibility of caring for/hiding Elisa on top of everything else in their young lives.

In fact, they had come together with a disguise of sorts for Elisa so that she could attend the game in the stands. A long wool dressy coat that covered her from shoulders to her ankles, a colorful scarf around her neck and a stocking cap on her head to cover the pointed ends of her ears. There was nothing that they could do about the feet, and they had accidentally shredded a fair number of shoes and a few pairs of boots. In the end, they left her feet uncovered, opting to paint them black and stencil on what could be a hint of zipper. 

If asked, they instructed Elisa to say that they were these new funky styles boots by some popstar made to look like monster feet. No, they wouldn’t be available to the public yet, but they should be soon.

It was New York, after all. Home of a booming and often funky fashion design industry. Someone walking around in an “original” pair of boots wasn’t odd.

Goliath wasn’t a hundred percent sure that it was going to work, but how often did people really look at each other’s footwear?

He should have known it was going to be that night when everyone was looking at footwear. They had been stopped several times in the line to get into the stadium, and twice more on the way to their seats.

Elisa kept a smile on her face, and repeated the lines that the kids had helped her to memorize. More than one girl pulled their cell phones out to look up the information on how to get those boots, disappointed to not find them.

Which is how he found himself, sitting with his left side pressed against hers, in the upper right hand side of the home team side, her in the corner, and him sitting as a buffer between everyone else and her. As they sat in the undulating mass that was a Friday night high school homecoming game crowd, Goliath had already had to stare a few people down to… discourage… them from coming over. 

With all those precautions done, she looked human… And beautiful, Goliath was almost hesitant to admit to himself. 

The sound of the referee whistles calling for the teams to get ready to take the field interrupted his musings.

Shaking himself from what he knew was a totally inappropriate line of thinking, he spotted the hot dog vendors starting to make their rounds. He raised an arm and flagged one of them over. Handing over a small stack of bills, he bought four hot dogs and two drinks. He handed Elisa two of the hot dogs to free up his hands to handle the drinks.

Elisa took the two metallic shapes in puzzlement, then took hold of the flimsy filled cup of bubbly liquid.

She looked at Goliath in confusion.

Goliath, seeing her confusion, chuckled softly before showing her how to unwrap the tin foil and eat a hot dog.

After her first tentative bite, she devoured the hot dogs in record time. Goliath motioned to the drink and Elisa took a sip. 

She laughed, startled, as the soda bubbles tickled her nose. Her face was basically lit up like that of a child discovering something for the first time. 

And, really, she was experiencing these things for the first time.

Yes, Goliath groaned inwardly. This was going to be a long night.

Just before the game was to start, he had pointed out Angela in the group of cheerleaders. The cheer team in their bright uniforms and glittery pompons were working hard to get the crowd fired up. Together with the costumed school mascot, a big fluffy white Gryphon, they had whipped the homecoming crowd into a frenzy as the team took the field.

He then set about trying to teach Elisa about football. She watched the action on the field with rapt attention, cheering loudly whenever she spotted one of her young friends. 

Goliath had to bodily block her the first time that Brooklyn had been tackled to the ground during a play, stepping in front of her to cover the red glow of her eyes from the crowd. In calm tones, he talked her down, and then sat beside her on the bench as they watched the trainers come to the field to assess his injuries.

After a few moments, Brooklyn was back on his feet and being assisted back to the bench to have his ankle looked at.

Elisa didn’t like it, but she sat there and grumbled under her breath.

By halftime, Goliath’s nerves were shot. With the lack of activity on the field, Elisa seemed her calm self once more, and he felt it was safe enough to get up, stretch, and use the restroom. Being that it was homecoming, there would be a big parade of people on the field tonight before the actual halftime show with Angela performing. According to the program he’d been handed when they had first arrived, first they would have the senior players come across the field with their parents, then they would introduce the nominees for homecoming royalty, and THEN the marching band and cheerleaders would perform. 

He would have the necessary time, and not miss Angela’s performance.

“Elisa,” He leaned in close to her, “I need to get up for a few minutes. Will you be alright here by yourself?”

He didn’t miss the brief flare of fear that flickered in the brown depths of her eyes, but she straightened up her shoulders and smiled. “I’ll be fine,” She said. “I will stay here until you return.”

“I have an idea,” Goliath said, reaching into his jacket pocket. “Here,” He said, handing her his cell phone. “If you hold this up to your ear,” Goliath quickly showed her what he meant, “People will not talk to you, and most likely leave you alone.”

Elisa smiled at him, and copied his action, holding the phone to her ear.

“I will return as quickly as I can,” He promised, getting to his feet. “I will bring you something else to eat, as well.”

Elisa nodded, phone still held to her ear.

Goliath still hesitated, but in the end, he left her there to take care of a few things.

He was just leaving the men’s room and turning towards the concession stand when a flash of color caught his attention. He froze in his tracks, and scanned the crowd again.

While his gut tightened in apprehension, he tried to shake it off. 

Surely not.

His luck was not that bad.

Or was it….?

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ 

Realizing that there was a lot of things at the concession stand that Elisa had probably not tried yet, he realized that he wanted to see that look of open joy on her face again, so he splurged a little and bought a wide array of goodies. Cotton candy, popcorn, a couple of different candy bars and a tray of nachos with cheese with Jalapeno slices on the side.

He managed to make it back before the announcement of the homecoming King and Queen.

Elisa looked up at him as he sat, phone still held to the side of her head and blinked at him in wide-eyed surprise. “What is all of this?” she asked, laughing.

Goliath set his haul down on the small stretch of empty bench between them and reached out to take the phone away from her ear. He reached down for the clear bag that contained the bright pink cotton candy. “Here,” he held it out to her. “Try some.”

Elisa reached into the bag and plucked out a hunk of the airy candy. Gingerly, she placed it in her mouth and jerked in surprise as it dissolved on her tongue. 

Goliath chuckled, and began handing her pieces of each item that he had bought, enjoying her reactions more than he should have. They found that she preferred Snickers over Milky Way, Reece’s Pieces over M&Ms, and while she enjoyed the bubbles from the soda, she really preferred either water or juice.

Finally, she leaned forward and inspected the nachos. 

“Go ahead and try them,” He said. He picked up a round corn chip and showed her how to dip it in the cheese. 

“Mmmm,” Elisa said, licking her lips. “And what are these?” Elisa asked, pointing to the cup of pepper slices.

“Those are Jalapeno peppers,” He said. “They are a little…” He trailed off, watching in a kind of disbelieving horror as she lifted the cup and shot the entire contents in her mouth at once. “Spicy,” He finished on a groan.

She chewed thoughtfully, then her eyes began to tear up a little. “Jalapena,” She breathed. 

Their eyes met, and they both began laughing like kids.

After the Homecoming King and Queen were announced, it was finally time for the Marching band to hit the field. They moved into formations, and played their music, and suddenly the Cheerleaders rushed the field to perform with them.

Goliath watched with pride as Angela performed the routine flawlessly… or at least it appeared so in his eyes. 

But as a parent, even one coming into things so late in the game, he was a little biased in his opinion.

When it was over, the people in the stands got to their feet and cheered loudly.

When the game play resumed, it was a great relief to everyone when Brooklyn came back. He was moving a little stiffly, but the look on his face said that he wasn’t going to let it keep him down.

The second half of the game was intense, and even Elisa was leaning forward in her seat.

During the third quarter, Lexington had managed to break away and catch a short pass. 

Goliath had to chuckle. The first time he had been introduced to the boys, and had found out that Lexington was on the team, he had assumed that the smaller boy was on the team as an equipment manager or towel boy because of his shorter, leaner stature.

Then he had come to his first game here at the Avalon Stadium, and had seen just how effective Lexington was on the field. He had good hands, and could catch almost any passed thrown at him. He was fast, and all but flew across the field. 

Then there was the height…

What others thought of as a disadvantage on the field, Lexington had made work for him. He was small, and could duck and weave through many an opening that other players wouldn’t be able to. When he had the ball, other players either overshot their tackles because they were used to bigger players, or they came up short by overcompensating.

Tonight, Lexington took the ball down the field and easily scored a tying touchdown.

A short while later, when the last, long whistle blew signaling the end of the game, the Gryphons had won.

By a single touchdown… But they had won.

The stands erupted as fans and students boiled onto the field by way of the stairs that led to the team benches or, in the case of the younger crowd, by vaulting over the railings. 

Amidst the jumble of people emptying the stands, Goliath spotted a familiar face.

That was it. One single face out of the masses.

A face that he hadn’t seen in a long time, but still recognized.

All of the previous happiness that he had felt that night seemed to flee from his body, as he felt his very muscles tighten in shock and anger. This night was not going to end well. 

The figure got up and calmly turned to go the more conventional way down by using the ramp on the far side.

He would have to hurry in order to catch up.

Forgetting everything else, he hurried down the steps of the bleachers.


	10. Chapter 10

Avalon High School, 2 hours earlier:

When Dominique had first pulled up to the game, she had gripped the steering wheel tightly. She had repressed her feelings of angst her entire long journey from L.A. to Manhattan. 

She hated this place. She had hated it when she’d come here, but it had been a highly rated private school with college prep courses that actually counted as college credits, so she’d worked her tail off for a full scholarship to get there. When she had graduated, she’d sworn that she would never come back.

And now… here she was.

Why was she feeling nervous? She had no reason to be nervous.

She knew there was a real possibility of Goliath being there, and the thought of seeing him again after all these years had conjured so many emotions that she had worked so hard to bury. 

So many scenarios passed through her mind, and none of them were ideal. She had trained her heart to desire only one thing for years, before they had even met, and that had been her career. Her future.

She was there only to see her daughter, she coached herself. Angela was the only thing that could have gotten her there.

Her eyes caught full view of the Homecoming football scene before her. All of the bright blues, golds and whites of the Avalon High School team colors, the brightly decorated cars in the parking lot and the overly enthusiastic crowd dripping with team spirit made her want to vomit. 

She thought of her own high school days at this very school, every painstaking one filled with silly, frivolous people like this, who never took the time to care about or understand her.

Except for one. 

Goliath.

In the end, however, he had abandoned her as well, more interested in being a hero and saving the world than staying here with her. She shouldn’t have been surprised, since her own parents hadn’t wanted her, but his abandonment had hurt the most.

Dominique had drawn in a deep breath, fixed a vision of her daughter's face in her mind, and bravely opened her car door.

"Where is the damn entrance?" She thought to herself, resigned to the fact that she was going to have to go through with this now that she was here. "Let's get this over with."

She was dressed smartly, in a professional all black knee length dress with a black blazer and her favorite black pumps. Not the most ideal outfit for the dusty gravel parking lot, but she felt professional, strong and distanced from the chaos as much as her outwardly appearance would allow.

She was not the bullied and abused teenager she had been anymore, and she would not allow anyone seeing her to make the mistake in thinking that she was. Of course, that’s if anyone recognized her… but they would have had to see her before to recognize her now, and she had been all but invisible to most of the students and staff here.

She used her key fob to lock the doors of the high priced black, sleek rental car, and tossed them into her clutch bag.

Upon surveying the nauseatingly cheery scene, she located the main entrance dotted with blue and white balloons and face painted ticketing agents. She figured getting past this would be the worst of her evening.

‘Sheep,’ She mentally sneered at the people, young and old, who were filing into the stands. They were all sheep, she said again in her mind, her black pumps making a staccato tapping as she made her way across the pavement. All so content with the status quo, happy in their little lives and ignorant of what real life was like outside of it.

"Ma'am," came a firm voice, calling her attention back to the ticket seller. She hadn’t noticed when the people ahead of her had gotten their tickets and had moved on. "That'll be ten dollars."

Dominique glared at the acne faced young man behind the counter, and handed over a crisp twenty dollar bill from her wallet.

"Thanks,” He said, taking the twenty and making change in the gunmetal gray cash box. “So…Who are you here to see?" He asked, eyeing her professional and out-of-place wardrobe choice.

When Dominique glared at the young man, he cowered back a little and handed over both the change and the ticket. 

"Uh… right through there, Ma'am." He said, pointing to the stands.

Dominique located the home team side of the stands and planted herself on one of the bottom metal bleacher seats. She heaved an aggrieved sigh at the thought of what damage her black clothing would suffer, and knew she would not be wearing this outfit again without going through a dry cleaner.

Twice.

Maybe three times.

She crossed her legs at the ankles, placed her clutch in her lap and determined not to look or feel too awkward.

"Go Avalon!" came an annoying cheer from the group of identically dressed cheerleaders to her right. 

And there, in the midst of that blue and white cheer team, stood a familiar face very like her own. 

Her beautiful daughter.

She recognized her instantly, thanks to the pictures that Katherine and Tom had sent her over the years. Of course, that had ended as soon as Goliath had come swooping in to play white night and bringing her daughter here. As such, in preparation for this night, she had her assistant do a bit of Facebook stalking for more up to date images. 

Even without the online pictures, and even though she had been separated from her child for years, she would have recognized her anywhere.

“Go, Gryphons!” Angela cheered, her voice rising above the others.

Just then, a roar of game time spirit erupted from the crowd behind her as the football team took the field.

Dominique could feel the excitement and team loyalty swell around her, but it was such a foreign feeling that it drew no response from her. She could never understand how tossing a ball around in a sport so violent, could bring so many people together into such a joyous atmosphere.

And the fact that her daughter was a cheerleader made her head pound. The cheerleaders at this school had been the main sources of torment to her, and the thought of her daughter having anything to do with that kind of person irritated her.  
If only she had stayed in California. 

Angela was smart, she knew, having received quarterly updates from the school. She was also a talented gymnast, and Dominique had donated heavily to the school to keep that particular program open. Between the good grades, hard work, and the athletics, Angela could have gotten in to any number of colleges and made something of herself.

College had not been an option for Dominique, but she had managed to get a paid internship that, if it worked out, would bypass the need for the additional (and in her mind expensively unnecessary) schooling. It had even included housing for the first few months in LA to help with the relocation to California. It was her dream job, but… even with that assistance, having a baby would have put that all in jeopardy. 

Being a single teenage mother, the best she could have hoped for was probably a waitressing job that would barely keep food on the table let alone housing, child care, and all the other joys of parenthood. 

Dominique realized that she would have to give the baby away for others to raise. She had done her research, and had found a couple who ran a group home for children who needed extra supervision for parents like her, needing to work with no available childcare. It was a kind of “transitional house”, intended as a respite place for people to send their kids to avoid having them go into the foster system due to financial hardship. 

Katherine and Tom, the couple who ran the home, worked hard to keep that from happening, hanging on to the kids for as long as they were able to before resorting to sending the children into the system. Independently wealthy, some kind of descendant from royalty or something, the couple owned a sprawling mansion with plenty of room to house the children as well as providing in-house school through teachers and tutors that would come to the house daily for the younger children. Older children, from middle school age and up, would be taken to one of the nearby schools for their education and socialization. 

It had seemed like the perfect solution for Dominique, and she had appealed to the couple before Angela had even been born, promising that if her internship turned into something more, then she could send the couple raising her money to help with the expenses.

Since then, her life had been reduced to working her way through a high powered and competitive profession. 

And ensuring that nothing, and no one came between her and success.

She had no regrets. She was wealthy, powerful and self-sufficient. She could buy and sell companies all day long… and had done just that. Several times.

Well… Maybe she had one regret in her life. 

She had, in the beginning, every intention of collecting her daughter, but there was always one more deal to make, one more promotion to work for, the years had flown by and suddenly her daughter was a high school senior.

And living with the man who had abandoned them both.

Dominique grit her teeth, closed her eyes, did some deep breathing to re-centered herself, and prepared for what was sure to be a long night.


	11. Chapter 11

Angela had exited the field with a group of the other cheerleaders who had run from the crowd that had swarmed the field. Normally they hung around on the field, but experience had taught them all that to do so on the night of a homecoming win was not wise. To do so would mean risking life and limb as one could get swept up into the crowd.

Besides, there was really only one player that she wanted to see, and she had already told him where she would be.

Laughing, the group of girls gathered near the base of the home side bleachers, and the excited girl chatter began. 

Tonight would be for celebrating the win, and the Homecoming Dance would be tomorrow night. As such, the conversations turned to what everyone was wearing and who was coming with who.

While Angela liked the physical activity and comradery of being on a team, the girl talk got to be a little much sometimes. She would have much rather been on a gymnastics team, but when she had moved here to live with her father, she had discovered that the high school didn’t offer one. 

Her father had insisted that she find an extracurricular activity, so cheerleading it was.

Oh, she loved being a girl, and could indulge in “girly” activities, but sometimes…

“You guys go ahead,” Angela said with a smile. “I’m going to wait for Broadway.”

A few of the girls sent her cat-ish grins, before they slowly moved away.

She rolled her eyes at their backs as they walked away. It wasn’t her fault that she had a boyfriend that she wanted to hang out with more than them.

“That was impolite, Angela.” The smooth, scolding tone, caused Angela to flinch in reaction. To get caught in the middle of such a childish action was embarrassing. Then, the voice registered and she felt her eyes go wide. 

“Mother?” She whispered in disbelief before whirling to face the statuesque figure that was her birth mother.

“Hello, daughter,” Dominique Destine said, striding forward in smooth, sure movements. 

“Wh.. What are you doing here?” Angela gasped out in shock, her hands automatically going to attempt to straighten her hair. She could probably count on one hand the times that she had seen her mother in person, but Angela knew that her mother was a perfectionist and would not care for having her daughter’s hair a mess.

“I have a business meeting in the morning here in Manhattan, and happened to notice that you had a game this evening,” Dominique said smoothly, raising a hand to tuck a loose tendril of Angela’s hair behind one ear. “I wanted to come and see you.”

“You did?” Angela gasped in surprise. 

“Yes,” She replied. “I did not realize that it would be quite so…” She waved a hand towards the crowded field, “Loud.”

“It’s homecoming,” Angela said with a small laugh and a slight shrug. “I think everyone is here tonight.”

Her mother hummed, looking around almost disdainfully. 

“Hey, Ang!” Brooklyn said, effectively breaking into Dominique’s musings. He came running in, swinging Angela into an impromptu dance. He dipped her back and waggled his eyebrows at her, “It’s still not too late to go to the dance with me.”

Angela swatted at him, and hurried to stand. 

“No way,” Broadway said, stepping into view. He swung an arm around Angela’s shoulder and drew her to his side. “Go get your own girl.”

Angela felt a momentary twinge for Brooklyn. When she had first come to this school, both Brooklyn and Broadway had all but tripped over themselves to get her attention. In the end, her heart had chosen Broadway, but it didn’t make her feel good knowing that she had hurt Brooklyn in the process, no matter how unintentional it had been. 

There was still a flash of that hurt, there in Brooklyn’s eyes. Not all the time, but once in a while, like now, she saw it. Just a flash, quick as a lightning strike, then it was gone again and Brooklyn would be back to his normal self.

“Thanks for leaving me behind, guys,” Lexington huffed out with irritation.

“Sorry, Lex,” Brooklyn said, looking a little sheepish. 

Lexington rolled his eyes. “Uh, huh.”

“Guys,” Angela said in a near shout to get their attention. When their faces swung to her, she raised a hand and gestured towards her mother. “This is my… Mother,” She said with an involuntary hesitation. “She had been about to say ‘birth mother’, but wasn’t sure how Dominique would feel about that, so she’d changed it at the last moment.

The boys froze, seemingly unsure how to react. She made no secret about her relationship, or lack thereof, with her birth mother and knew the whole story.

Angela had been told often when growing up that her mother had been a single mother who had been accepted into a business internship program in California. Her mother had been on a track to become a successful business woman at such a young age, and Angela couldn’t blame her for wanting to follow her dreams… she had just wished that those dreams had included her at some point. When Angela had been born, she had been placed with Katherine and Tom, where Angela was raised with a large group of similarly aged kids that she had come to refer to as her brothers and sisters. 

Angela hadn’t wanted for anything, except to know her birth parents.

She hadn’t even had a picture of her father. The one and only picture of her mother that she’d found was cut from a newspaper article about women leaders in business. It was in black and white, but it had been enough to know that they looked very similar. She had really only had a handful of impersonal phone calls and a few birthday cards.

On her fifteenth birthday, she had finally managed to get a copy of her birth certificate and had mercilessly hunted for her father. Luckily, “Goliath Mason” wasn’t a popular name, and she’d been able to find him fairly easily. Within a few days, her father had flown to California to meet her, and within the week, she’d been on a plane with her father and heading to Manhattan.

She’d met Broadway, Brooklyn and Lexington her first day at Avalon High, and the rest was history.

She knew the guys didn’t think highly of her mother and how she had treated Angela…but she hadn’t expected for them to actually meet her. Ever.

Until this moment, she hadn’t seen her mother in person, herself… or at least not that she remembered.

Broadway dropped his arm and stepped cautiously forward to offer his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Dominique cut her eyes to him, and Broadway almost visibly cringed. He let his hand drop, and stepped back to stand beside Angela.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the small group.

“Well,” Dominique said with an impatient sigh. “Angela, you have some interesting friends.”

Angela cringed a little over her mother’s inflection on the word ‘interesting’. Her father worked hard to be able to afford this private school, but Angela just couldn’t find much in common with the rich kids that attended here. She had good enough grades to receive a partial scholarship, and was sometimes looked down on by the kids from wealthy families.

She preferred hanging with these guys who had similar backgrounds. She liked them, and they weren’t snobby like some of the others.

Obviously, her mother didn’t approve, and she didn’t even know them.

Before anyone could respond, Angela heard her father’s raised and angry voice above the music and celebrating that was still happening on the field.

“Dominique,” He bellowed, storming towards the group, his eyes trained on her mother.

Dominique Destine, CEO and part owner of Nightstone Enterprises, turned to greet her former fiancée with a smirking grin.

“Goliath,” She said with a nod of her head. 

He hurried forward, glaring daggers at her. “What are you doing here?”

Rather than answer, Dominique crossed her arms and adopted an aggressive stance of her own.

Aware that this was probably not going to be a happy reunion, the boys all shifted on their feet uncomfortably, drawing Goliath’s attention. 

He sighed in irritation, but sent them all a nod. “You three should go clean up,” He suggested. “You may speak with Angela afterwards.”

The boys seemed hesitant to leave, sending Angela worried glances, but slowly nodded in agreement. They turned and made their way back across the field in the direction of the locker rooms, almost grateful to escape the heavy and volatile tension between the adults.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between the three friends. “I hate to say it, but I don’t like her mom,” Lexington said quietly. He gave the other two a mischievous smile, wanting to break up the tension. “Should we give her a nickname?”

“Yeah,” Broadway agreed slowly. “She seems… kinda evil.”

“Maybe we should call her ‘Demon’,” Brooklyn snarked. “Or ‘Demona’, since she’s a girl.”

“Demona?” Lexington asked, eyebrows raised. “Seriously?”

“Sure,” Brooklyn shrugged. “Why not?”

The three guys stopped in their tracks, looked at each other, and began laughing so hard they were all but doubled over.

Angela stood awkwardly beside her parents, and stared in disbelief at her friends laughing uproariously at something, and desperately wished she was with them, instead of stuck between these two people who had loved each other once enough to make her, but obviously couldn’t stomach each other now.


	12. Chapter 12

“Angela,” Goliath said, gently placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder to get her attention. “You should go get changed as well.”

“Oh,” She said distractedly. “Yes. Of course. I’ll… uh… Be back soon.” She sent her mother an apologetic look before turning to hurry towards the girl’s locker room to change.

Once she was out of hearing range, the two adults turned back towards each other.

“Really, Goliath,” Dominique said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. “I came all this way to see her, and you send her away?”

“Yes,” He said firmly, crossing his own arms. “I will ask again. What are you doing here, Dominique?”

“Well, if you must know,” Dominique responded with a frustrated sigh, “I’m in town to discuss a project merger with a company in Manhattan. I figured I could come and see Angela while I was here.”

“Why?” Goliath all but snarled at her. 

“She is my daughter. I need a reason to come and see my child?” She asked, almost sweetly. “Or to come and see you?”

Her flippant answer grated on his last nerve. “It has been eighteen years, and as far as either she or I know, you have never been to see her. You always seem to have an ulterior motive for everything,” Goliath pointed out. “So what is it?”

Dominique sighed heavily again. “Really, Goliath. Can we not just talk civilly about this?”

“No,” Goliath snapped.

“Very well,” Demona said, irritated. Turning in the direction that she had seen Angela walk , she said, “I’m going to find Angela.”

Goliath reached out a hand and once more grasped her upper arm to stop her. “No. Leave her be.”

“I am done speaking with you, Goliath,” She said, practically ripping her arm from his grasp. She had no wish to continue this conversation and felt no need to explain herself.

“Answer me,” Goliath bit out. “You kept our daughter a secret from me, to be raised by strangers for most of her life. I know things did not end well between us, but I cannot believe that you would be so hateful as to keep her from me. I only found out about her because she found me. She contacted me. You told me nothing, and I lost fourteen years with my daughter.”

“And what would you have done?” Dominique snapped. “You were so hell bent on going to fight a war that had nothing to do with us. Your high and mighty morals took precedence over everything else, even me as I begged you to not go. What would you have done, had you known there was a child?”

“I do not know,” Goliath admitted, “But I wasn’t given the chance to do anything, was I?”

Dominique rolled her eyes skyward. “Please. She was well taken care of. I sent the people who cared for her enough money that she wouldn’t want for anything. She had a roof over her head and food in her belly. She had clothing and toys. What more could she have wanted?”

“You,” Came the soft female voice from beside where they were facing off. “I wanted my parents.”

Both Goliath and Dominique whirled to find Angels standing there. She had changed back in to the striped boat neck shirt and comfortable jeans that she’d come to the game in, her haste evident by the fact that her sneakers were still untied.

Goliath moved to comfort her, but Angela shook her head at him. Roughly, she swiped at her tears before continuing. “Yes, I had toys, clothes and food. I even had a house full of other kids whom I thought of as siblings, and Katherine and Tom, but I wanted my real parents.”

“Angela,” Dominique said firmly, “You know that wasn’t possible.”

“Why?” Angela burst out. “I just heard you telling Goliath that he went off to fight in the army. He went to protect people, and I understand that. But you?” Angela shook her head. “You went off to make a life for yourself that didn’t have room for a child.” She took a step away from them both. “Go home, Dominique. I don’t need you anymore.”

With that, Angela turned on her heel, and ran to the parking lot, the small gym bag that held her cheerleading gear bouncing against her back with each step.

Goliath bowed his head and sighed. He had been so careful to no say anything in anger to Angela about her mother. Maybe he had done her a disservice in doing so. Angela was so innocent for the most part, and had obviously been harboring some hope that she could have both of her parents someday.

A hand on his arm brought his attention back to the present. Thinking it was Dominique, he turned prepared to snap at her again, but instead found himself looking into the understanding eyes of Elisa…

Elisa. Whom he had been responsible for, had forgotten about in his haste to reach Dominique and had left on her own in the stands.

“I will go watch over Angela,” She said firmly. “And make sure she gets home safely.”

“Thank you,” Goliath said, placing a hand over hers where it still laid on his arm. 

She gave his arm a gentle squeeze before turning to follow her friend.

“And who are you?” Dominique snarled, glaring daggers at this unknown female.

“My name is Elisa,” Elisa introduced herself. “I am a friend to Angela and Goliath.”

“Elisa who?” Dominique demanded.

Elisa ignored her, and hurried to the parking area to find Angela.


	13. Chapter 13

Goliath watched as Elisa walked away from them, irritated that she was the one to go comfort his daughter instead of him. Instead, he was here, trying to deal with the woman who he had once thought was going to be his everything.

They had met here, at this very school… Gods, it felt like a thousand years ago. 

He had been a Junior the year she had transferred in as a Sophomore. He had been taking an advanced English class, in preparation for his English and literature major in college and had ended up sitting next to her in the small classroom. 

She had been a mystery to him, quiet and withdrawn. He had seen firsthand just how smart she was, even though she rarely spoke up those first few months. 

She had been a “Scholarship Kid”, as the more well-to-do kids seemed to like throwing in her direction. The only thing that had meant to him is that she had gotten in on her own merit and hard work, instead of having parents who were able to throw money at the school. No, her clothes hadn’t been brand new, and her shoes had seen better days, but it hadn’t meant anything to him.

Technically, he was a scholarship kid as well, but he had been recruited into the sports program for the football team under Coach Stone, so the other kids tended to conveniently forget that fact and leave him alone. He had no plans to make sports his main career, but it afforded him the chance to go to school here, so he kept with it.

He was an orphan. Never having known his parents, he had grown up in a group home setting with a large collection of others his age. The couple in charge of his home had been older and stern. They ran their home with an iron fist and demanded that the boys in their care toed the line. They had been Scottish, well-educated and very proper. He remembered admiring the way that they spoke, and had done his best to mirror their speech… something that he still did today. While they weren’t the most affectionate people, they were supportive of all things academic, so Goliath had pushed himself in school. 

They had also been close family friends of Coach Stone, the new football coach at Avalon High School, and had reached out to him when Goliath had been accepted there. In doing so, they had helped ease Goliath’s way in and through those teenage years. 

Dominique had parents, of a sorts. They were self-centered and absent for most of her life, more interested in their own activities than that of their daughter, so she really felt no connection or loyalty to them. Instead, she seemed to focus all her attention and devotion on him.

It had taken him a while to get through to Dominique, to get past the walls of anger and resentment that she had built to shield herself from the school kids who seemed to find joy in tormenting her. Once he did, he had found someone that he had thought to be worthy of protecting and loving. 

She had been so different with him. She had seemed sweet and caring. Focused on her future, yes, but he hadn’t really thought of that as a bad thing at the time.

They had started out as friends, then a few months later they had begun dating. He had let it be known to all from the very beginning that he would not stand for the thoughtless and cruel way that the others had been treating her.

Gradually, the treatment had slowed and all but stopped.

Or so he had thought…

It turned out, he had found out later, that it had continued to carry on behind the scenes where he was not able to be there to protect her. 

Things had begun to change when he had graduated. He had begun his classes at NYU, majoring in his preferred English/Literature classes with the full intent of becoming a teacher. 

He had purposely chosen to spend his first few years at a local college for a few reasons. It was cheaper for one thing, allowing him to get his core classes out of the way while rooming with some of his former team mates to share living expenses.

Proximity to Dominique was the other. He hated the thought of leaving her alone.

Despite the class load, maintaining his grades to keep his scholarship and the physical training for the sports team, he still managed to spend almost every evening with Dominique. 

She turned mid-way through her senior year, and her parents had all but kicked her out on her own. Not even thinking twice, he had asked her to move in with him, and he had even proposed to her the night before her before graduation.

Things had gone great for a while, but then the events of September 11, 2001, had happened. Amidst the shock and grief, Goliath had felt a need to join the army to protect his home.

Dominique had protested, angrily, that she needed him and why would he choose a country of strangers over her?

He hated that he had hurt her, but he hadn’t felt like he’d had a choice. In the back of his mind, he had sincerely believed that she would come around. That she would be there for him.

She had disabused him of that notion from the moment that he had gotten to basic training. He had religiously sent her letters two or three times a week, still paying rent on their small apartment and attempting to call her whenever he could.

The only letter that he had received had been from his landlord saying that Dominique had moved out two months after he had left. Goliath had been overseas at the time, and had felt the loss like a physical blow. 

In the end, he had hired a crew to pack up his belongings and put them into storage so that he could release the apartment for someone else to rent.

He had stayed in the Army through one tour overseas. After coming back to the States, he had become friends with a group of MPs, and signed on to work with the military police for another four years.

After his time was over, he had moved back to Manhattan and made the choice to go to work with the NYPD instead of returning to college to finish his English Literature degree.

He had found his calling. The only regret that he had felt was over the loss of Dominique, his Angel.

That was until the night he had received the telephone call from Angela. He had just gotten home from a long shift and had been looking forward to a good dinner, a hot shower, and sleep.

He was just sitting down to a pair of sandwiches when his phone had rang. It had been just past ten at night, and in his experience no good news came that late at night. He had answered the phone and had been greeted by a soft female voice on the other end. 

He would never forget the rush of confusion as she had said, “My name is Angela, and I think you’re my father.”

At first, he hadn’t believed it, thinking that the young woman on the other end was mistaken. He kept her talking, thinking that maybe he could help her in some way, even if it was just to talk. 

She admitted that she was living in California, in a group home for teens. Given his lonely childhood in a similar situation, he had been willing to listen to her. 

She admitted that she had found his information through internet searches, and had gotten his name from her birth certificate. 

He had hesitated then, a feeling of foreboding coming over him as he asked what her mother’s name was.

She had hesitated, then softly confirmed his worst fears.

For the next few days, he had worked hard to clear his schedule and took some emergency family leave. He had spoken to Angela every night on the telephone, and had purchased airline tickets to California. 

The suddenness of learning that he had a daughter… a teenage daughter… had left him feeling a little numb. It hadn’t been until after he had returned to Manhattan with Angela in tow that the anger and resentment had set in. 

He had fought it off, tamped it down enough to appreciate the time together that they did have, and try his best to make a home for his daughter.

Facing her now, all of those emotions sprang forward, as raw now as they had ever been.

The fact that his… their… daughter had been witness to the animosity they seemed to bear towards one another, hurt him on a level that he hadn’t known was there. 

After Elisa had left to find Angela, Dominique had stormed off in a fit of anger that left her unable or unwilling to face Goliath. 

Goliath stood there, leaning against the bleachers as he tried to get a hold of his emotions, when a familiar voice met his ears.

“You’re a mite old to be hangin’ out under the bleachers.”

It was a voice from his past, and one he knew well. It was the voice who had alternately offered words of encouragement, then with the next breath threatened to knock some sense into him. It was the voice who had instructed students for years in front of a podium, making medieval history come alive. It was also the voice who had drilled plays and strategies into the heads of a room full of jocks.

He had also been the closest thing to a father that Goliath had ever had.

Goliath opened his eyes and smiled at the grizzled old Scotsman who had been such an inspiration to him when he had been growing up. 

Coach Stone had been younger then, but he had still managed to terrify every group of young men who had come to join the football team. He had trained them well, both on and off the field, teaching classes on history and imparting his wisdom not only on but off the field as well. 

For some reason, the coach had developed a fondness for Goliath and had treated him like the father Goliath had always wanted. In fact, it wasn’t until his own daughter had begun coming to school here that he’d been able to stop calling him ‘Coach’, and call him by his given name.

Straightening up, he walked forward to shake hands with his friend. “Hello, Hudson,” he greeted.


	14. Chapter 14

Angela was the same height as Elisa, but with her body hunched with her sobbing, she seemed so much smaller. Elisa held Angela close, letting her friend cry, her head resting against Elisa’s chest. 

Elisa had purposely positioned herself so that Angela was hidden from the view of anyone else. Angela’s sadness was her own, and not for anyone else to witness.

She was so focused on Angela’s grief that the sound of the car engine almost didn’t register. Elisa turned her head and spotted the dark car heading towards them. She had a split second to react, and pushed Angela away into the space between two other cars to keep her safe.

Elisa felt the impact of the car as it struck her, her body rolling up and over the hood of the car. Her elbow struck the windshield, the sound of glass cracking filled Elisa’s ears just before she rolled over the top of the car and landing in a painful heap on the pavement behind it.

The car came to a hurried stop, tires leaving black marks in its wake on the broken grey pavement of the school’s parking lot.

“Elisa!” Angela cried, rushing back into view.

Angela stopped, panic gripping her by the throat as she spotted Elisa and realized that Elisa’s disguise had been undone. Her long coat was missing, having caught on something on the car and been torn away. With her hat gone as well, leaving behind a definitely not human form.

Angela cried out, looking around frantically, and spotting the guys as they came out to see what all the noise had been about. 

“Help,” Angela cried, waving her arms to get their attention. “Elisa’s hurt!”

The guys dropped their football gear, and began running in her direction.

Angela all but threw herself over Elisa’ trying to cover as much of Elisa’s body with her own as she could until the guys got there.

Elisa began to move slowly, groaning in pain. “Elisa,” Angela whispered frantically. “Don’t move.”

Elisa stilled, and whether she had understood Angela’s words or she had lost consciousness, Angela was grateful.

Angela heard pounding feet, and brought her eyes to meet the guys’ as they were running. “I need help,” She cried, then added. “Someone go get my father, and the rest help me cover her. I think she might go into shock.”

Lexington broke off from the other two, aiming for the last place they had seen her father.

The other two came to kneel beside Elisa, worry clearly etched on their faces.

“What happened?” Broadway breathed out, his chest still heaving from the run across the lot from the locker rooms.

“Car hit her,” Angela gasped.

Brooklyn got to his feet, thinking to go check on the driver, when the person responsible staggered out. 

“Oh, crap,” He said low.

Dominique, or ‘Demona’ as they had jokingly decided to refer to her as, had been the one who hit Elisa. She didn’t have any visible injuries, but she looked dazed anyway.

“Angela,” She gasped out. “Are you alright?”

“Mother?” Angela gasped, eyes wide in surprise and confusion. “What…”

“She was driving the car,” Brooklyn said with a soft menace. “She hit Elisa. And my guess is that you were with her, and Elisa somehow got you out of the way.”

Angela swung her eyes to her mother, silently begging the universe that it wasn’t true. There was a flash, a sliding look of guilt that crossed the green surface so quickly that Angela almost missed it.

“Angela, I…” She trailed off as she caught sight of the winged form that the kids had been trying to hide. “What is that thing?” She gasped out.

Broadway got to his feet, firmly putting himself between the red headed woman and the two females on the ground. He glared at her and crossed his arms across his chest. “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” He said with a shrug.

“Angela,” She cried out, trying to get closer to her daughter. “Get away from that… thing.”

“She’s not a thing,” Angela cried out. 

Demona stopped, hand still outstretched, her expression closed off now. “Angela,” She said in a firm voice. “I need you to stand up and get away from that gargoyle. It’s dangerous.”

Angela, Broadway and Brooklyn froze and stared at Dominique.

“How do you know what she is?” Angela asked, her voice slow but hinting at anger. When Dominique didn’t answer fast enough, she snarled, “Mother, how do you know?”

Realizing her error, Dominique hurried to say, “I will answer you, just step away from it.”

“No,” Angela cried. “She’s my friend.”

“It’s a thing,” Dominique shot back in fury at her orders being ignored. “It is dangerous and it needs to go back to its cage.”

The boys took a step towards Dominique, who instinctively backed up a step.

“Angela,” Dominique tried again, only to go silent as Angela’s name was all but bellowed from the approaching forms of Goliath and the smaller Lexington.

“Angela,” Goliath called, coming to a skidding stop beside his daughter. 

“I’m fine,” Angela insisted. “But Elisa needs help.”

Goliath knelt quickly and touched Elisa’s shoulder, thinking to roll her onto her back so that he could assess her injuries.

Elisa’s eyes popped open, the red illumination of her eyes almost blinding in the darkness, she bared her teeth on a snarl and she struggled to get up. The humans jumped as far back as they could just in case, but it only took a few seconds for Elisa to realize who was near her. Her eyes bled back to normal, and she ceased struggling.

“Elisa,” Goliath said, edging closer. “Are you hurt? Will you be able to get in the car?”

Elisa nodded. “I think so,” She said softly.

“Good,” Goliath nodded. He dug his keys out and passed them to Angela. “Angela, please bring the car here.”

Angela nodded, and got to her feet.

“Are you insane?” Dominique screamed. “Get away from that thing!”

“What have you done?” Goliath asked her.

“She hit Elisa with her car,” Brooklyn said.

“She almost hit Angela, too,” Broadway added helpfully.

“No,” Demona protested. “It was an accident.” 

“No,” Lexington said softly as he rejoined the group, Elisa’s coat in his hands. “It wasn’t.” He handed the coat to Goliath. “Here. It was still stuck in the center of the grill of the car.”

Goliath hurried to cover Elisa’s winged form from sight. There weren’t many cars left in the parking lot, and only them there to see her as far as he knew, but he wanted to keep it that way.

“That sounds like it was on purpose,” Broadway growled.

“Nice,” Brooklyn ground out between his teeth. “That rate of speed and a center hit? You didn’t even try to swerve.”

Dominique’s gaze flew from one figure to the next, until she’d seen the condemnation on all of their faces. Yes, it had been on purpose, but they couldn’t know that for sure.

“Are you lads hurt?” Hudson asked, joining the group. He had been speaking to Goliath when Lexington had come running up to say that someone had been hurt in the parking lot. Coach Hudson Stone had run to the locker rooms to make sure everyone there was clearing out, grabbed the trainer’s first aid bag, then hurried to join Goliath and the others in the parking lot in case more help was needed.

Now Hudson could only look on the scene with puzzlement. Goliath was a police officer, and yet he had not called for help. The young men on his team had set up a barrier between the injured woman and the one who had been responsible for the accident.

It was with some surprise that he had recognized the woman responsible, but he felt it wise to hold his tongue for the moment and observe.

“You can’t honestly believe..” Dominique began defensively.

“Enough,” Goliath roared, his deep voice echoing in the night. “Leave,” He said turning those angry eyes on her so that there would be no doubt as to who he was speaking to. “Now.”

Dominique opened her mouth to continue protesting, but Hudson stepped forward, recognizing the anger burning in Goliath’s eyes. He knew at one point that he had cared for the smartly dressed female, Dominique… But Goliath’s actions, defensiveness and even the look in his eyes shouted louder than words that he was feeling something towards the woman on the ground.

And if Dominique was indeed responsible for this so-called accident, Hudson wasn’t going to allow this to go any further.

“Perhaps ye should leave,” Hudson suggested quietly. “Enough damage has been done this night.”

Goliath’s car suddenly squealed to a stop next to them, and Angela barely took the time to put it in park before diving out the door and returning to Elisa’s side.

Goliath wrapped the now torn coat around the winged female who had, again, saved his daughter’s life. Gently, he lifted her into his arms and stood. Angela got to her feet as well, and hurried to get the door to the back seat open. Angela got in first, and slid to the far side to help guide Elisa’s body inside. With Elisa’s head on her thigh, Angela stroked her hair and tried to reassure her that she’d be fine.

Goliath closed the door, and glared at Dominique. “I meant what I said,” He growled. “Leave. Leave me and Angela alone, and stay away from Elisa.”

“You named it?” Dominique gasped. 

Goliath clenched his fists and his sides, but as much as he wanted the fight with her, he had to get Angela and Elisa to safety. They were the priority now, so without a backwards glance, he went to his car. He got to the driver’s side of the car as Demona’s own car door slammed. Within moments, she was driving away and Goliath could only gnash his teeth. 

He hoped an officer pulled her over and asked some uncomfortable questions about the state of her car.

“Will ye be alright, lad?” Hudson asked. “You and the Lass?” He nodded at Elisa.

“We will be fine,” Goliath hurried to say. “We will take Elisa to go get medical attention now. Thank you for your help.”

Hudson nodded, but the look in his eyes said that he wasn’t buying it. He knew that something wasn’t right, and would probably be calling Goliath later. “Here,” He said instead, and handed the well-stocked emergency first aid kit to Goliath. “Take this in case you have need of it,” Hudson said softly. “Just replace what you use, and send it back with the boys on Monday.”

“Thank you,” Goliath said, shaking Hudson’s hand.

“Off with ye,” He said gruffly, turning to re-enter the sports field complex. 

Goliath was going to have to think of a good cover story, that was for sure.

He got behind the wheel, just as the front passenger door opened. Brooklyn slid in and closed the door. 

“Broadway will be right behind us in his car, and he’ll bring Lexington with him.” Brooklyn said, putting on his seat belt. 

“Thank you,” Goliath said.

Brooklyn shrugged. “We’re like a big, extended, dysfunctional family,” He said. “And family takes care of each other.”


	15. Chapter 15

They couldn’t go to a hospital, that was a given. He didn’t know anyone personally who was a physician that could be trusted to not go to the various news sources in New York and get their fifteen minutes of fame.

Goliath took them back to their apartment instead. Once there, they were greeted with the very real problem of getting her out. Elisa had pulled herself in, despite her injuries, but she wasn’t able to help much in the way of getting herself back out of the confines of the small back seat.

“Angela,” Goliath said softly, “go hold the elevator here.”

Angela hurried over to push the call button, and once the doors opened, she stood to hold the doors and effectively keeping the car there on the lower parking basement level.

The boys had all gathered by then, and were just waiting for instructions on how to help.

Goliath bent down, and grasped Elisa under her arms, trying to ease her out. Elisa gave a small cry, then seemed to clamp her mouth closed.

“I am sorry,” Goliath said to her softly. 

Elisa met his eyes, and he found the determination there to be somewhat comforting. Her spirit was still there, and she was going to need it.

Goliath looked to the boys. “Brooklyn. Broadway. I am going to help her out. You be prepared to help her on her feet.”

The boys nodded, and moved forward in unison as a group who had already worked together as a team.

“Lexington,” Goliath continued, “bring the bag of supplies from the front seat.”

Lexington moved forward then, hefting the small duffle bag from the seat and moved to join Angela.

Goliath once more grasped Elisa under the arms. “Are you ready for this?” He asked her.

Elisa nodded, and closed her eyes.

Goliath lifted her upper body enough to pull her out, but low enough to not hit her head on the doorframe. Slowly and as smoothly as he could, he slowly eased her out head first. Brooklyn and Broadway swooped in, one on each side of her, placing her arms over their shoulders. 

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” Broadway grunted, trying his best to gently extract the injured gargoyle from the car.

“Okay. I will work on that,” Elisa said, grimacing in discomfort.

The three men continued backing her out of the car until her body was mostly free. Once that was done, Goliath swooped in and gathered the female into his arms.

The boys closed and locked the car, hurried to join the others in the elevator and the group was finally on their way up to the apartment.

Goliath hadn’t had a good look at Elisa before, more concerned with getting her out of sight from others. Now, however, he could feel her body shaking with pain and stress. 

The bell signaled that they were at the apartment, and they all vacated, hurrying to the apartment door.

Angela fished her keys from her equipment bag and hurriedly unlocked the door. As she went inside, Lexington on her heels, Broadway and Brooklyn stayed outside the door to help Goliath maneuver Elisa in. 

Something was wrong with at least one of her wings, they could see, as it hung low almost to the ground. As Goliath turned sideways to get Elisa through, Brooklyn and Broadway guided both the injured wing and Elisa’s tail through so that they wouldn’t hit the door frame.

Once Goliath was through, the boys came inside, closing and locking the door.

Goliath went straight through the apartment, down the short hallway, and sat Elisa on his large bed. She flinched a little, but was able to hold herself up.

Turning, he motioned for Lexington to bring the bag. He set the bag on the bed, unzipped it and stared at the contents. 

He had insisted on taking first aid and first responder training. He knew how to make tourniquets and slings, how to make rolls of gauze to protect protruding injuries and how to make braces and splints for breaks.

He had no idea what to do for Elisa.

Angela came forward, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Elisa,” Angela said softly to get the gargoyle’s attention. “Can you tell us what to do to help you?”

Elisa nodded. “My wing strut,” She said, her voice husky from her effort to stay silent and not cry out. “Where it meets my back,” Elisa pointed to her right shoulder. “If you can brace it with something, it will heal by tomorrow.”

“Anything else?” Angela asked.

Elisa sighed. “My right leg hurts, but it will heal.”

“Here,” Angela said, leaning forward, “Let me help you remove your pack so that it won’t keep bumping your leg.”

With Angela’s assistance, they managed to undo Elisa’s belt and until the leg band that had secured the pack to her side so that it wasn’t shifting and spilling its contents.

With that done, Angela moved the pack, belt and all, to the top of Goliath’s low dresser.

Goliath frowned, and gently prodded the leg, feeling for any injuries. “Are you able to move it?” He asked, and watched as Elisa gingerly shifted it in answer. “What about standing? Can you hold your weight?”

Elisa shook her head. “I wasn’t able to use it to get in or out of your car.”

Goliath nodded. “It might be broken.”

“I wish we could take her to a hospital,” Angela cried out. “She could have more injuries that we don’t know about.”

Goliath nodded. He understood his daughter’s fears, and they mirrored his own. He gave her a hug. “I will do this,” He said softly. “Would you and the boys go out and make us all something to eat? The boys are probably hungry, and we have a long night ahead.”

Angela nodded and slipped from the room. The boys, who had been lingering outside the door, turned to silently follow.

Goliath sighed. 

Slowly, and with much instruction from Elisa, he had managed to brace her wing by wrapping it in a pair of ace bandages in a figure 8 pattern around her chest and over her shoulder. 

Once that had been done, he gave her leg a similar treatment. He helped her to sit on the bed, her legs stretched straight out in front of her. Using a pair of wooden bokken that both he and Angela had for their martial arts classes, he placed one on each side of her leg to immobilize both her thigh and knee. The wooden swords were almost as long as her entire leg, so it would work to hold it immobile in case it was actually been broken.

“Goliath,” Elisa said, looking up at him with understanding eyes. “Don’t worry so much. Gargoyles heal while in stone sleep. I will be good as new by tomorrow night.”

Goliath nodded. “But there is still tonight to get through,” He said. He replaced the unused items into Hudson’s bag, and shifted the bag to the floor. “I do not like seeing you in pain,” He insisted, surprising himself at just how much he cared about that. “I wish that there was more that I could do.”

Elisa smiled. “Thank you, Big Guy,” She said lightly, using the affectionate nickname that she had heard from something she had seen on the small television that they had gotten for her at the clock tower. “You have done more for me tonight than any other human has ever done for me. But I really will be fine.”

Goliath let out a low rumble that seemed to resonate in his chest. “Be that as it may,” He said, glancing at the small alarm clock, “Perhaps you should lay down for the rest of the night. Sunrise is still hours away.”

Elisa nodded, and tried to move herself. Goliath gave an abrupt sigh at her stubbornness, and scooped her up into his arms again. Careful to approach from her left side, so he wouldn’t move her injured limbs, he moved her farther down the bed and helped her to lay flat.

“Would you like anything to eat? To drink?” He asked, suddenly feeling awkward with nothing to do.

“A drink would be nice,” Elisa said with a shy smile.

Goliath left and returned with a glass of water, and had grabbed a wrapped straw that had been left on the counter at some point over the last few days. He unwrapped the straw, and held the glass so that Elisa could drink but not have to sit up to do so.

“Thank you,” Elisa said. 

Goliath went out once more, and came back with a small, sturdy wooden chair that he set up beside the bed.

Elisa frowned at him. “You don’t need to stay with me all night,” She said, clearly confused.

“I know,” Goliath said, leaning back a bit in the chair and meeting her eyes, silently challenging her to try to tell him to go away.

Elisa met his gaze, then sighed. “Very well,” She said with a small laugh.

Something on the pile of Elisa’s discarded items on his dresser caught his attention. It was the large leather pouch that she had kept with her since she had escaped… wherever she had been kept. 

She still had not voluntarily spoken of that time. When they had managed to get her to talk about it, she had been elusive and vague with her answers. 

Goliath found himself wondering if that was because she honestly did not have the information, or if she knew and did not feel safe enough yet to share it.

Goliath leaned in to take a closer look at the pouch. It was dark leather, though if it was the natural skin color of the beast it came from or something in the tanning process that had left it so dark, he did not know. It had obviously been handmade, the leather still bearing marks from the tools that had been used. There was no decoration on it, no design etched into the leather. It was made to be a useful item, not something pretty for a female to have.

Goliath frowned, straightened up in the chair and leaned closer to the pouch. There was a squared corner of something plastic sticking out from beneath the concealing flap that fastened in the front with an odd shaped fastener that looked as if it were either shaped wood or possibly bone of some sort.

“You can look, if you would like,” Elisa said from her position on the bed.

Goliath turned to her so quickly that she couldn’t quite hide her grimace of discomfort. He frowned at her. “I would not want to intrude.”

Elisa gave him a small smile. “It is alright,” She insisted softly. “I don’t know what those items are, but they seemed to be important to the humans at the laboratory.”

Goliath blinked at her. Whatever she was carrying could possibly have something to do with where she had been and could give him some insight as to what had been done to her… and why.

“Take them, Goliath,” Elisa said, sounding weary.

Goliath gave her one more uncertain look, but his need to know more drove him to investigate. Gingerly, he untied the leather strips and released the flap so that he could look at the items inside.

The pouch was full of small cassette tapes. Goliath frowned, trying to think of the last time he had even seen a cassette tape, let alone small ones like these. 

Gingerly, he reached in and took a few of them out to look closer at them. They were labeled with a string of numbers, dates and the designation “Nightshade”.

“Would you mind,” He asked her softly, “If I borrowed a few of these?”

“Take them all,” Elisa insisted. “If you know what these are, and how to get information from them, take them.”

Goliath nodded, and lifted the pouch fully in the light. It was then that he realized that the pouch held more of these small cassettes than he had originally thought. 

“Dad,” Angela called softly from the door. “None of us could sleep, so we thought we could take a turn sitting with Elisa if you need rest.”

Goliath glanced at the small alarm clock on his bedside table. It was just past 1:00 in the morning. While he wanted to insist that she get rest, he realized that he was eager to go and see what he could find about the cassettes.

Wait…

“Did you say, ‘we’?” Goliath asked suspiciously.

Angela gave him an exasperated look, and opened the door wide enough for him to see the three boys in the background.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fine,” He said on a sigh. “But you,” he pointed to the boys in the hallway, “Will go home shortly. I do not need your parents calling the station to report you missing.”

“Yes, sir,” They chorused together quietly as they filed into the room.

Goliath rose from his seat, the only one he had brought into the room, and hefted Elisa’s pouch with him. He was about to leave the room when he remembered where he had seen something like these.

“Angela,” He asked abruptly. “Two years ago, when you broke your arm at cheerleading practice, did you not have a machine that used these for school?” He lifted one of the small cassettes for Angela’s inspection.

“Oh,” she said, then stopped to think. “I did to help me when I couldn’t take notes in my classes, but I don’t remember where it ended up. Maybe in the hall closet?”

Goliath nodded, then took his leave. Resting would probably be a good idea, since he had a full shift tomorrow… he glanced at the clock and grimaced… today, rather. 

He set the pouch and its contents on the coffee table, then sat on the sofa, resting his head against the back and closing his eyes. Abruptly, his eyes sprung open and he got to his feet again.

There was no way he could rest right now. He felt a driving urge to find out what was on the tapes, and an underlying urgency that he just could not put into words.

He opened the hall closet, and began to visually scan its contents. He grabbed a few boxes and sifted through the contents of each, finding holiday decorations and a random box of school work of Angela’s that she had decided was important enough to keep. Setting them on the floor to keep them out of the way, he looked around again. 

A few more boxes joined the first before his eyes settled on a small shoebox in the darkest corner. It was laying on its side, and must have fallen behind a few of the larger boxes and been forgotten. Stretching, he reached for it. 

Inside, he found what he needed buried under the wrist brace that Angela had needed to wear for a few weeks after her cast had been removed and a few pictures of her and her friends with her bright purple cast.

He removed the small recorder, pushing a few buttons to test the batteries. When nothing happened, he opened the back and realized that the batteries were missing. He looked around, and his eyes settled on the television remote. Hurrying forward, he took the batteries out of the remote and switched them over into the recorder.

Sitting on the sofa once more, he began shuffling through the tapes and organizing them by date. With that chore done, he lifted the first one, and inserted it into the tape recorder and pressed play.

“This is recording number one of the Nightshade project,” Came the loud, irritated voice of a female. Goliath hurried to turn the volume down to the point where he could still hear it, but the sound would not carry to the others. “The lab assistants that have been assigned to me have complained that they cannot read my handwriting, nor are they able to decipher my shorthand, and have asked that I record my findings on a recording device for future reference. Someone will type this all up when the project is nearer to completion, I am sure, because I am sure as hell not going to do it.” The voice sighed again before continuing. “The experimentation on gene alteration and splicing has shown very little results, but what is one to expect when you are working with strictly animal DNA. It is not as if we could give a mouse the speed of a cheetah, or an elephant wings. Working with humans would be more beneficial, since that is what we are working towards, but that will have to come later.

“Our benefactor has assured us that he has discovered the perfect specimen for us to begin working on, and that it should be here sometime early this morning. I will record any additional findings on a separate tape, so that they are kept separate. For now, here is what we have found working with the mice. Subject 1 is…”

Goliath stopped the tape and took it out of the machine. He glanced at the other side of the tape that was again labeled with a string of numbers, and the same date. This side, however, was distinctly labeled with a pair of parentheses around a number two. Goliath put the tape in to listen to that side, rewinding it to the beginning.

“Recording number two of the Nightshade Project,” the same female’s voice said again, anger very clearly in her voice. “I am sitting here, trying to decide if the world has somehow gone insane. Our specimen got here an hour ago, and I am far from impressed. It’s a statue.” The woman’s voice began hitching in fury. “All of this work, and we have been given some kind of magical statue that supposedly comes to life at night. I can’t believe that I am wasting my time and talent here, when I had offers elsewhere in the world to fund my research. Lucky for my benefactor, but he offered me a lot more money than the others, so I will humor his delusions for now.”

The recording stopped, and the rest of the tape seemed to be blank on that side.

Goliath stopped the playback in irritation. It had been Elisa, he knew, that had been brought to them that night. He had a rough understanding of what they were trying to do, or thought he did anyway, but not the ‘why’ of it all. 

Goliath ejected that cassette and set it aside to begin a new stack. He reached for the second cassette and began to play it.

The voice of the female came through the tiny speaker again, but instead of being irritated or angry this time, he could hear the excitement in her voice. “Recording number three,” she said. “I have studied science and medicine my whole life, but nothing can describe what I have witnessed tonight. Not only did that statue come to life, just as promised, but it seems to be a sentient being. It speaks, and despite having very little knowledge of anything modern, it seems highly intelligent. After speaking with the subject, I convinced her to let us run a few tests and she agreed. At first,” She sighed and seemed to retreat back into her irritable demeanor. “After we inserted the needle to withdraw blood, she began to panic and all but ripped the needle and tubing from her own arm. In an effort to calm her, we withdrew the apparatus, and only managed to get enough blood to run a few very basic tests. Blood type is unknown, and the cell regeneration is extremely high within the sample. The subject has shown to have accelerated healing properties as well as more than human strength, two abilities that I am wanting to explore more thoroughly from this point forward. I am sure that those two abilities alone would serve our purposes well. 

“I am also interested in exploring its cognitive abilities. We have had some success in the mind control and isolation portions of the experiments to date as well with our animal test subjects, so I am going to put those on the schedule for it beginning soon. We need to get its trust first, then we will move on to the other side and record the findings.

“First, the physical testing. We had her do some simple physical conditioning and endurance tests in the basement level.” There was the sound of papers being shuffled, then she spoke again. “It was able to run at a consistent speed of…”

Goliath turned the tape off. He had no interest in what this unknown woman thought of Elisa’s physical abilities, so he grabbed for the next tape. Before hitting play, he retrieved the ear buds that he used when he was working out and plugged them in to the cassette player. He had a feeling that this was going to get bad, and did not want the others to over hear it.

Once that was done, he went into the kitchen and began making a pot of coffee. A quick glance at the clock said that it was now a little past four in the morning. 

Elisa had been insistent that she would be healed by tomorrow night that no one had thought to question it. 

Why would they? It is not as if they had previous experience with a gargoyle to draw upon.

The downside had been that, with her injured, they had no way to get her to the clock tower for the day. Once more, she would be left here, on their balcony, and would need some sort of covering that wouldn’t require her to huddle under that small table again.

Hopefully they would be able to figure that out in time.

As the final drops of coffee fell from the brewing basket, Goliath poured himself a cup and placed it on the small kitchen table. He gathered up the items from the living room, and laid all the tapes out on the table. He pressed play once more on the machine and settled in to listen.


	16. Chapter 16

When Goliath next came up for air, so to speak, he felt ill. 

He could see by the clock that it was nearing time for the sun to rise. With deliberate carefulness, he removed the ear buds and slowly, gently, laid them on the table next to the player.

He had to move slowly, deliberately, because he honestly wanted to hurl the things at the wall and grind the pieces under his feet.

And he was only four tapes in. He glanced at the table and counted the tapes. He had fifty nine tapes total.

According to Elisa, she had been at the laboratory for two months. 

Sixty days probably meant sixty tapes.

Which meant that Elisa managed to grab these out from under the nose of those working there, and this woman had most likely had the last tape in her hands.

He grabbed a notepad and pen, and began to make a list of what he knew and realized that there wasn’t a lot for him to go on. The woman who was recording with these cassettes was overly careful about mentioning names. 

No names, no locations, nothing.  
Goliath tossed the pen onto the pad of paper in frustration. He got to his feet, went to the sink to pour out the ice cold and still untouched coffee, then went to his bedroom to look in on Elisa and the kids.

Elisa lay, still awake on the bed, and she held one of her fingers to her lips as he opened the door. 

‘So much for keeping Elisa company,’ Goliath thought in irritation. Every one of them was asleep. Angela had sat in the chair, her hand held loosely in Elisa’s, and her head laid on the bed.

Broadway and Brooklyn had sat on the floor, their backs against the bed, and had nodded off where they sat.

Lexington had propped himself up in the corner, the two walls supporting him and keeping him upright so he looked a little more comfortable then the others.

“When did this happen?” He asked, approaching the bed quietly.

“A little while ago,” Elisa admitted. “They were all so tired, I didn’t want to wake them.”

“They were supposed to keep you company,” He pointed out.

“They did,” Elisa hurried to assure him. “Even when they’re asleep, I know they’re there if I need help. I’m not alone, and that is more than enough.”

He supposed so, having just listened to a handful of the tapes. Elisa had been kept in some kind of underground facility, alone except for when the scientists (and he used the term loosely) wanted to have her do things.

For days, she had been kept in total isolation, just so that they could see how she’d react.

They had been playing mental games with her, and she just kept thwarting their plans.

He was proud that she’d come out of her ordeal as sane and intact as she had.

“It’s close to sunset,” Elisa said.

“Yes,” Goliath said, leaning over to gently move Angela’s hand. “We need to get you outside, and make sure that you remain safe.”

Elisa nodded slowly. “Yes,” she began to push herself up but gave a small whimper in her throat at the action. 

Gently, keeping an eye on her injured wing strut, he leaned down and lifted her from the bed. 

He carried her to the living room, and made a decision. Turning, he carried her over to the corner and set her on her feet.

Elisa gave him a puzzled look.

“You can not go outside like this,” Goliath admitted. He changed his hold on her so that she could get into a comfortable position. He didn’t know if she would wake up stiff and sore if her arm was in a raised position all day, but that was a question for later. For now, he shifted so that he held her around the shoulders so that her arms were free to move. “There is no way to get you into a position that would keep you hidden from sight without causing you pain, and I will not have you try to get under that small table while you are injured. Inside here, we can keep you safe, and you will have a better chance to heal your injuries correctly.”

Elisa gave him a smile, “Thank you.”

Elisa tucked her wings in close to her back, unable to fully cape them in front of her like she normally did and ducked her head as the sun’s rays began coming through the window. There was a muted crackling sound as Elisa’s form slowly turned to stone for the day.

He stepped back from her then, and just looked at her. There was still a sense of awe, watching that happen, and almost more so watching her wake at night.

He glanced at the clock on the wall with a sigh. He knew he was going to need to sleep soon, but he wasn’t tired yet. 

Turning back to the kitchen, he poured a fresh cup of coffee and resumed listening to the tapes. He had no wish to listen to them, but he shoved that aside. No, he didn’t want to listen to it, but she was under his protection and was becoming a good friend. 

She had save his daughter’s life… All of their lives, actually, in the short time that they had known her. All while putting her own life in jeopardy more than once herself.

He owed it to her to find these people and eliminate the threat to her and any others that may still be alive in the world.

He took a sip of the coffee, put in the ear buds and began the next in the line of tapes.

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{

A few hours later, Goliath was jolted from his slow simmer of anger by a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Startled, he jumped and splashed a few drops of his coffee on his hand and on the table in front of him.

He put the mug on the table, and swiped at the liquid that had once more gone cold before he could drink it all again.

He raised his eyes to meet his daughter’s eyes that was still a little bleary from sleep. He stopped the recording in mid-sentence and removed the listening devices.

“Sorry, father,” Angela said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t see the ear buds.” She looked at the small tape recorder in puzzlement and took in the sheer amount of tapes. “Where did all of these come from?”

“Elisa,” Goliath said, getting to his feet. He dumped the mostly untouched coffee out in the sink and rinsed out the mug. “She managed to get the tapes out from the facility where she had been kept.”

Her eyes swung up to meet his. “Really? What were you able to find out from them?”

“Not much,” He admitted. “There is only one woman’s voice on the cassettes, and she does not mention locations or names.”

Angela frowned, and looked at the two piles of tapes. “Which ones have you already listened to?”

Goliath pointed to the smaller stack, and Angela took a seat in the chair that he had vacated. She reached for the ear buds, and put one in her left ear. “Go get some sleep,” She said. “I have gotten enough rest to keep listening for you. If I find anything, I will let you know.”

Goliath hesitated. He did not want his daughter any more involved in this matter than she already was, but he understood her need to help. 

“Father,” Angela said, seeing the indecision in his eyes, “I have got this. Go. Sleep.”

Goliath nodded. “I will sleep on the sofa in case you find anything.”

Angela frowned, “Why not go to bed?”

“The boys snore,” Goliath pointed out. “I would not be able to sleep with that noise.”

Angela grinned. “Fair point. That’s actually what woke me up.”

Goliath moved to the sofa, promising himself that he would only close his eyes for a brief time. He laid back, his head on the arm of the sofa, crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.

He was out like a light only moments later. 

Angela made sure he was asleep before she began listening to the recordings. She hadn’t had any of the build up to this point, but she really didn’t need it. She turned the volume up and listened to not only the words, but anything that may be happening in the background that could give any hints as the where they were.

She was on tape two, and thoroughly horrified when she experienced what her father had.

The hand on her shoulder made her jump and give an involuntary squeal. She slapped a hand over her mouth and glanced at her father to make sure that she hadn’t woken him.

Luckily, he was still asleep.

Angela stopped the recording gratefully. She was happy to help, but was certain that she was going to have nightmares for the next few nights.

She took the ear buds out and placed them on the table. 

Broadway scooted in to the seat next to her with a sheepish grin. “Sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Angela shrugged. “I’m fine.” She smiled at him, running a hand through his sleep tousled hair. “Sleep well?”

“Not really,” He admitted, running a hand over his stiff neck muscles. “I don’t even remember falling asleep.”

“I fell asleep too,” She admitted. “When I woke up, it was already daylight.”

“Where’s Elisa?” He asked on a yawn.

Angela rolled her eyes and pointed to the stone figure in the corner.

“Whoah,” He said, getting up to move closer to Elisa’s stone form to inspect it. When he had completed his task, he returned to the table. “Why do you think her clothes turn to stone, but the bandages didn’t?”

“I don’t know,” Angela said with a shrug. “Magic?”

There was a thump from down the hall, and two figures emerged looking sleep rumpled and confused.

Angela motioned for them to be quiet and waved them over to the table. Once seated, she explained what she had been doing and why.

The boys exchanged glances, and as if it were pre-planned, the boys sprang into action. Lexington held his hand out for the ear buds, Brooklyn went to empty the coffee pot and brew some fresh, and Broadway began to scout out food to make them all for breakfast. 

Stunned at the sudden activity, Angela found herself handing over the ear buds and watching the barely organized chaos that was her kitchen.


	17. Chapter 17

Between the four of them, they traded off every tape or so. It helped everyone to stay alert and have some decompress time between.

A few hours later, it was close to lunchtime. 

Broadway and Angela were working together, putting together something light for lunch. Lexington was busy trying to do his tech savvy stuff, and deep diving into city archives to look for any kind of underground facilities like that one that could house an operation like the one that Elisa had been held in.

After his turn with the recordings was over, Lexington had made a quick trip out to go home and gather together his laptop. He was back, and currently looking at different websites about recording programs and filters.

Brooklyn was taking a turn with the recordings, slouching in a chair with his arms crossed, eyes closed in an effort to block out everything else and focus. Suddenly, his eyes sprang open and he sprang upright and fumbled with the recorder to stop it.

“Guys,” He all but shouted. “I think I’ve got something.”

All activity stopped, as they moved in close to listen in. Brooklyn unplugged the earbuds and played the recording back over the tinny small speaker.

The main woman’s voice came through in mid-sentence, “…healed overnight. It is fascinating and something that I would like to test again tomorrow. Our benefactor has issued us a warning on damaging the specimen, however I do not believe that he would be so adamant when he sees the reports. I…”

There was the sound of a door opening and a small indistinct voice in the background.

“I told you not to interrupt me when I am dictating reports,” The woman snapped. “I distinctly remember telling everyone…”

Brooklyn snapped the recording off.

“You can hear it better through the ear buds,” Brooklyn said, frustrated.

“Here,” Lexington said, holding his hand out. “Let me try running it through my computer.”

Brooklyn handed the device over, and they watched with fascination as Lexington sifted through cords and wires, hooked one up to his laptop, and began typing commands into a program furiously. 

Suddenly, the voice came again, this time through Lexington’s computer, as Lexington began trying to find that one spit in the recording.

“…Live fire exercise. Subject was hit…” Lexington used the slider on the program to forward the recording a bit. “…Healed overnight…” More adjusting, then “…when he sees the reports. I…”

Lexington stopped the playback, marked the spot on the recording so that he wouldn’t have to hunt it down again, then began working in earnest. He put his headphones on, brow furrowed in concentration, and began isolating the background noise to amplify it.

While he did this, Goliath groaned, stretched and sat up on the couch where he had been sleeping.

Angela rushed over to him to update him.

Goliath got to his feet, and moved to hover with the rest of the group.

“Got it,” Lexington said triumphantly. “Here,” he said and once more turned his speakers on.

The first voice was an amplified version of the woman’s voice, “…sees the reports. I…”, and then they heard it. 

There was what sounded like the rattle of a door knob turning, and a hesitant male voice, “Doctor West? Doctor Sevarious needs…”

“I told you…” The woman’s voice was back just before Lexington cut it off.

“That’s all I got from it,” Lexington admitted.

“It is more than we had before,” Goliath said, placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Thank you.” He looked at the whole group and included them as well. “Thank you all for your help.”

“Well, we have a place to start,” Brooklyn said. “Lex, can you do your thing and see what you can find on those two ‘Doctors’?” He asked, making the air quotes around the word ‘Doctors’.

“On it,” Lexington said, as he pulled up the search engine’s page.

“Would you like something to eat?” Angela asked her father.

Goliath nodded absently, his mind already racing. Something about those names had struck him as familiar, but he just couldn’t place it…

“Aha!” Lexington said, and pulled up the search results. “Doctor West and Doctor Sevarious are both research scientists. They worked together for a while with GenCorp, a genetics research lab in both Europe and the United States, but they were fired because they…” He trailed off, reading silently to himself before cringing and moving on. “Let’s just say that they were fired. They dropped out of sight for a while, and a few months ago they were brought on with Marble Labs.”

“Marble Labs?” Goliath asked, “Where is that located?”

“It’s a new enough company that there’s not much on them,” Lexington admitted with more keystrokes. 

“Follow the money, Lex,” Brooklyn said, moving to stand at Lexington’s other shoulder and watching the screen. “The woman keeps talking about a ‘benefactor’, which means…”

“Someone’s financing it,” Broadway finished.

“So who is backing it?” Angela asked, passing her father a small plate with a sandwich on it.

Lexington looked hesitant at Goliath. “Uhhh…”

“Hey, Mr. Mason,” Brooklyn burst out, finally catching on to the reason for the hesitation. “Can you go over there and sit?” He asked, pointing to the chair at the other end of the table, and in a position where he wouldn’t be able to see the screen.

Goliath frowned at the boys. “Why?”

“Father,” Angela said, pulling the chair out for him, “Please?”

Goliath grit his teeth in aggravation, but moved to sit in the chair. 

“Thank you,” Angela said, giving his broad shoulders a quick squeeze.

Lexington went back to work. “Alright. Marble labs is a branch of Samson Industries which has a lot of government contracts, but the main funding is coming from another company.”

Goliath narrowed his eyes. “How are you able to find this information?”

“Don’t ask,” Brooklyn advised.

“Plausible deniability,” Angela quipped.

“Just think of this like you would any anonymous tip,” Broadway said. “You can do your own investigation on it later.”

Translation: Goliath probably did not want to know how Lexington was getting this information.

More keystrokes. “It looks like… yes!” Lexington said, raiding his hands in triumph. “Xanatos Enterprises.”

“Xanatos?” Angela frowned.

“As in, David Xanatos?” Brooklyn asked. 

“Wait,” Broadway said, his brow furrowing. “Wasn’t that who Elisa said was helping her when she woke up here?”

“Yeah,” Lexington said with a grimace. “Some help. It looks like the funding for whatever they’re working on with Marble Labs started almost a year and a half ago.”

“About the time that castle project of his was going on.” Goliath said, deep in thought.

“Do you think that had anything to do with Elisa?” Broadway asked.

“It almost had to,” Brooklyn said.

“Uh, oh…” Lexington said, shooting a glance at Angela and Goliath.

“What?” Angela asked uneasily.

“Uh…,” Brooklyn said, reading over Lexington’s shoulder. “What’s the name of your mother’s company again?”

“Nightstone Enterprises,” Angela said slowly. “Why?”

“I was afraid of that,” Brooklyn said, standing upright again.

“It looks like Marble Labs just got a sudden influx of money from Nightstone Enterprises as well,” Lexington said, typing a few more keys. “It looks like Nightstone and Xanatos Enterprises are joining forces for something.”

“Judging from the dollar amount, it’s big,” Broadway said, looking at the screen and taking in the dollar amounts with all the zeros listed there. “But that would explain why Dem…er… your mother knew about Elisa being a gargoyle.

Goliath sat upright. “What?”

The kids turned to focus on him.

“Oh, right…” Brooklyn said, running a hand through his hair. “You weren’t there yet.”

“Tell me,” Goliath said firmly.

“Okay,” Angela said, sadness in her eyes as she began recounting what had happened before her father had gotten to them the night before.


	18. Chapter 18

Dominique strode into the Xanatos Enterprises building as if she owned the place. 

Maybe she would someday, she mused. 

For now, it was enough that people hurried out of her way. She was dressed in a dark green power suit, with a knee-length pencil skirt, matching suit jacket, and a cream colored blouse underneath. With her head held high, a look of disdain on her face, and people automatically found her intimidating.

Normally, she loved the thrill, the feeling of power that she got, all from knowing that people were afraid of her. Today, however, it only served to annoy her.

Everything annoyed her today.

She had seen Goliath and Angela just last night, and with that… thing…

She waited impatiently as the elevator climbed upwards into that god-forsaken castle monstrosity that housed David Xanatos himself. Once the elevator slid to a stop, the doors opened to reveal Owen Burnett.

Dominique fought the urge to roll her eyes. There was just something about Owen that grated on her nerves.

“Ms. Destine,” Owen greeted her in that irritating monotone of his. “Mr. Xanatos is waiting in his office. This way,” He said, leading her down the hall.

As if she didn’t know where his office was. She had been there quite a few times already.

Owen opened the heavy dark wood door, and motioned for her to enter.

Dominique swept in, and immediately dismissed Owen from her mind. 

David Xanatos, probably the luckiest bastard on the face of the planet, was sitting behind his massive mahogany desk looking at a stack of paperwork.

She had last been in this office two weeks ago, and at that time everything seemed to be going well.

Now, however…

Dominique strolled forward, and placed her hands on his desk. Leaning forward, she asked in a sugary sweet tone, “Hello David. Did you lose something?”

Xanatos looked up at her and scowled. “Not that I am aware of,” He said. Efficiently, he moved the paper stack to the side and looked at her over tented fingers. “Why do you ask?”

“Funny thing,” She said, moving to one of the ridiculously huge high-backed leather chairs that faced the desk. “I was out last night, and ran into your gargoyle.”

Xanatos’ eyebrow lifted a little. “You don’t say,” He smirked. “I assume that you don’t mean that literally.”

Dominique lifted a shoulder in a small shrug, “I accidently hit her with my car in a parking lot.”

Xanatos frowned. “You hit her. With your car.”

“Oops,” She replied.

“I know that you’re new to the genetics business,” Xanatos said, leaning back in his chair, “But it is generally frowned upon to damage the subjects.”

“She will heal,” Dominique said, waving her hand in dismissal. 

“That’s not really the point, my dear,” David said with a sigh. “Being that you’re here, I can only guess that you didn’t actually kill her.”

“No,” Dominique said. “I did not kill her. However,” She snarled, “After investing this much money into the research your two mad scientists down in that basement are doing, finding the actual subject of said testing out on the streets does not inspire confidence.”

“Quite the contrary,” Xanatos said, sitting up to cross his arms on his desk. “We can only get so much information about the gargoyle’s abilities while it is kept indoors and under lock and key. For Example,” He said, getting to his feet. He came around the front of the desk and leaned against the edge in an arms crossed imitation of nonchalance that Dominique wasn’t buying for a moment. “She can’t actually fly. Only glide using the wind currents. We can’t test that indoors.”

Dominique raised an eyebrow. “And you couldn’t let her go out and monitor her here?”

Xanatos sighed and pushed off of his perch with a sigh. “We could have, yes, but we couldn’t be sure that the flight was the only thing that we were missing.”

“How did she get out?” Dominique demanded. 

“We gave her a pointless series of tasks to do outside. One of which was to infiltrate one of my airships and to steal a specific item.” Xanatos sat behind his desk again. “She refused the first time, and the second time she “escaped” out of an unattended hatch in the ship.” Xanatos smirked. “We also made sure to leave some items out for her to take with her.”

“And what purpose did that serve?” Dominique asked, rubbing at her temples where she felt a headache building.

“To give her something to steal, so it would give the appearance that we weren’t watching her as closely and give her the courage to go.” Xanatos shrugged. “It also gave us a way to give her something with a backup tracker that she would keep with her and not find. It proved useful, as she found the first one and disposed of it in Central Park.”

“What items?” Dominique couldn’t resist asking.

“A handful of small dictaphone tapes,” Xanatos said. “Something that she would believe to be important, but have no idea what to do with. I left instructions that whatever notes had been put on the tapes were to be carefully erased, so even if she did find something to play them on, they would be blank.”

“So you are keeping track of her?” Dominique asked again.

“Of course,” Xanatos said. “We have spent too much in time, money and resources to lose her now. I have a team of people following her at night, observing and recording their findings. Knowing that she is injured… badly, I assume from being hit by your car… we will be able to record her rapid healing and the extent it works, which is one of the last things we were hoping to observe. I will make the arrangements for the retrieval team to move in just before sunset tomorrow so that they can catch her by surprise. That will give us one more night to observe the healing processes that the gargoyle has. We have known where she spends her days, but retrieving her during the day would be… difficult. She has somehow managed to make her daytime home in the clock tower above the police station, and people would notice a team of people removing a several thousand pound statue from a police station. Night time retrieval would be best, and we know where she is spending her nights, or, rather, with whom.”

“Do tell,” Dominique snarled. She had a bad feeling that she knew what was coming.

Xanatos reached out and grabbed a thick file and handed it to her. 

She opened the file, and found herself staring at two pictures and profiles inside the flap. Goliath and Angela.

“It seems,” Xanatos said, “That the gargoyle has attached herself to your ex and daughter.”


	19. Chapter 19

It was nearing six o’clock that evening when they reached the final tape recording. Goliath, Angela and the boys were worn out from the emotional roller coaster that they had been on.

For some reason, the final tape had been blank.

“Maybe they just hadn’t recorded it yet?” Angela suggested with a shrug.

“It is possible,” Goliath mused. But then again, it had been labeled like the others…

“Uh, guys?” Brooklyn said, pointing to the windows.

Goliath looked at the rapidly darkening sky, realizing that Elisa was about to wake up, and they still had not figured out a safe way to have her wake indoors.

“Everyone in the hallway,” Goliath said, hurrying to his feet. He waved the kids ahead of him, and followed behind them. The boys shuffled around so that Angela was the farthest down the hall, and therefore the most protected. Goliath was last, providing as much blockage as he could, shielding them all from the flying stone bits with his own body.

There was the sound of stone cracking, and a growling roar as Elisa burst free from the confines of her stone skin. Small bits of the broken rock flew, but luckily caused no major damage, although a fine dusting of grey dust hung in the air and settled on any flat surface available.

Goliath whirled in time to watch Elisa stagger and almost fall. He hurried forward and managed to catch her in his arms just before she hit the ground, rolling so that he hit the ground first and cushioned her fall with his body.

Both landed with an audible release of air from the sudden stop.

Elisa raised her head from where it had landed against his chest and blinked at him, startled.

“Oh,” Elisa said, trying to push herself up and away, only to discover what had caused her mishap to begin with. She glanced down and was reminded about the measures and care that Goliath had shown her last night when she saw that her leg was still trapped to the two wooden pieces, leaving her unable to bend her leg.

She brought her gaze back up to Goliath and for a moment, they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Are you hurt?” Goliath asked, sounding slightly out of breath.

“No,” Elisa said softly, embarrassment beginning to creep in over the situation. “I am sorry, but… my leg…”

Goliath help shift her to a sitting position beside him, then sat up himself. He ran his hands over the brace to make sure that it was still firmly in place. “Is it still causing you pain?”

Elisa gave a soft laugh. “No. I just can’t bend it and lost my balance.” She reached down, and started to remove the bindings to free her leg.

“Here,” Goliath said, brushing her hands away. “I will help you.”

Elisa sat back, feeling a little awkward at having someone else offer to help her with anything. She was so used to having to do things on her own, but ever since she had awakened here, she felt as though she had been nothing but a burden on these humans that she now thought of as friends.

Once her leg was freed, Goliath helped her to her feet once more, then proceeded to unwrap her wing. 

Other than being a little stiff, probably from being forcibly held immobile, she was fine. Both her wing and her leg had healed completely as she had known they would, but seemed to mystify the humans.

“You really can heal overnight,” Angela breathed from the doorway.

Elisa gave a one shouldered shrug. “Yeah. We call it the Concrete Cure-All.”

“Awesome,” Angela said with a grin. “I broke my arm a few years ago, and I was in a cast for months!”

“It does come in handy at times,” Elisa said with a shrug. She looked at everyone and frowned. “Why are you all here? Don’t you have somewhere else to be tonight?”

The kids just blinked at her, and Elisa gave them an expectant look. “Your dance.”

Angela gasped. “The Homecoming dance,” She frantically looked towards the clock. “I forgot.”

“We all forgot,” Lexington pointed out.

“There is still time,” Goliath said. “Angela, go get dressed, and you boys,” he pointed at the group, “Go home and change. I will drop Angela off at the dance as soon as she is ready, and you can all meet up there.”

“I completely missed my hair appointment,” Angela fussed.

Elisa grabbed her friend by the hand. “I will help.”

Together, the two females ran off down the hallway and disappeared inside Angela’s room.

The boys left a few moments later. Lexington left the computer there with the isolated voice on the recording pulled up for Goliath’s use. 

Goliath took a moment to clean up the kitchen area while he waited on Angela and Elisa to finish… whatever it was they were doing. In all honestly, females were a puzzle to him for the most part, and it did not matter what species, apparently.

Once he was completed with that task, he went ahead and got dressed for work as he would go straight to the station for his shift after he dropped Angela off at the dance venue. He would be a little early, but he wanted to spend some time looking into Marble Labs and would have more resources to use there.

Not to mention more legal. He still was not sur what Lexington had been doing his investigation with on the computer, but if the kids said that if was better that he not know, perhaps that was for the best. He got the information and now had a good idea of where to start.

Forty-five minutes later, Angela and Elisa emerged from the hallway. Angela had slipped into the dress that she and Goliath had bought on a shopping excursion a few months ago. It was a very oriental inspired style design, with the high neck and gold toggles down the front. It was a deep maroon with black designs woven through it, sleeveless and had a slit up one leg to just above one knee. 

Yes, he had cringed a little seeing his daughter in a dress like that, but he had wanted her to have a gown she felt comfortable in … and one that was decently cut enough that he could live with it.

Her makeup had been done with a slightly heavier hand than normal, but the effect was striking.

Angela’s hair had been swept up and away from her face, held there by a series of intricate braids that made her seem more warrior than princess.

Goliath felt the breath catch in his chest as it almost burst from pride. 

“What do you think?” Angela asked, making a complete turn to show off. 

“I think,” Goliath said, moving forward to give her a quick hug, “That I may have a need to take the night off and play bodyguard.”

Angela laughed, and slapped his shoulder. “Ha, Ha. Very funny.”

“I was not joking,” Goliath deadpanned.

Angela looked at him, a slow transformation from laughing to abject horror. “Father… You wouldn’t.”

“I might,” Goliath growled. 

“Elisa,” Angela whirled to her friend. “Help me.”

Elisa blinked at her. She was unfamiliar with the dynamics of human families, and wasn’t even sure that her opinion should be considered…

“Goliath,” Elisa said, putting her hand on his arm. “She will be fine. She will have the boys to watch over her, and they won’t let anything happen to her.”

Goliath let out a sigh. He knew he was being unreasonable. “Very well,” He said with reluctance. “But you are not to leave their side tonight, and you are to come straight home after the dance."

Angela smiled. “Of course,” She said. “I will come right home after.”


	20. Chapter 20

Nikki Hollands hurried down the hallway of the laboratory. Getting the paid internship here, with the newly formed Marble Labs straight out of college had been a dream come true for her. It paid well, and allowed her to put a good sized dent in her school debt. 

She had been excited to join a company who had advertised themselves to be on some new breakthrough in genetics, but in the end… she was a glorified secretary. She was not allowed in the labs, despite her work experience, graduating top of her class and her overall dedication in the field of genetics and gene therapy.

Ooooh, no. 

Her job was to transcribe the ramblings of one Doctor West. 

Yeah… after four years at an expensive college, this was totally not how she thought her life would be going.

She had been transcribing the tapes every night, but because the Gargoyle was now being observed in “the wild”, so to speak, there hadn’t been any tapes for her to listen to. 

Tonight, she was told to go down and continue working, and so she had drug her feet a bit before coming down to get to work.

The minute she’d put the first tape in the machine, she knew something was wrong. Frantically, she had reached for the next tape. Then the next. Five tapes later, and Nikki knew that she would have to tell someone.

Everyone had been made aware of the Gargoyle, and what the plan was to let her “escape” with a bunch of “tapes” that were supposed to be blank…

It seemed that the Gargoyle had outsmarted someone. Luckily most of the staff, including Nikki herself, had been told to stay home the night they must have been taken, so she could not be found to be at fault.

It didn’t really relax her mind, however. Just her luck, they would still hold her accountable and fire her.

To be honest with herself, she wasn’t sure she would mind it. The more time she had spent with those tapes, listening to that creepy ass woman talk about things that, had the specimen been human, would have made her question her life choices. 

So maybe being fired wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Nikki took a breath as she approached the door to the lab office where Doctor West worked alone most of the time. She raised her hand and knocked.

“Come in,” The voice inside snapped.

“Excuse me, Doctor West,” Nikki said, opening the door slowly. “I have something to tell you about.”

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{

“What do you mean, the tapes were switched?” Doctor Sevarius demanded.

“Just what I said, you fool,” Doctor West snapped.

“You were careful to keep things generic, correct?” Doctor Sevarius asked.

“Of course,” Doctor West waved a hand in the air. “I am not a complete idiot.”

“I never said that, dear,” Sevarius said with a sneer, “But that’s not to say that some people that you’ve hired here are not.”

“Evidently,” West said with a sneer of her own. 

“Who would have thought that the Gargoyle had enough forethought to switch the tapes?” Sevarius mused.

“The question should be,” West said, “What are we going to do about it?”

“Obviously we have to send the team in to get her,” Sevarius said. “We can’t take the chance of someone else getting a hold of those tapes.”

“It’s one night earlier than we were hoping, but,” West shrugged, “I guess we have no choice. Call the team. Tell them to use the tracker and bring her back tonight.”

Sevarius nodded, and reached for the telephone mounted on the wall beside him.


	21. Chapter 21

Goliath went to work that evening, but it was proving to be a slow night. With Elisa following overhead, they had managed to corner a couple of would-be muggers, stopped a thief from carrying a large television from the back door of an electronics store and Elisa had helped him track a car involved in a hit and run accident from the air.

Despite that, he was stuck behind his desk most of the night with little to do but obsess over where his daughter was. 

Which was ridiculous, he reminded himself. He had seen to it that she knew how to protect herself. He had trained her himself in the beginning, and they had done several martial arts courses together. She might appear fragile, but she packed a punch and knew exactly where to aim it.

Goliath forced himself to take a breath. He glanced at the clock, noting the time. The dance was over, and she should be home by now. His fingers itched to dial her number, to make sure that she was alright.

Maybe he should send Elisa over to check on her…

“Goliath,” came a familiar, and not very welcome, voice from behind him. 

He swiveled in his chair, and met Demona…er… Dominique’s gaze. Seriously, he had to keep a handle on himself. He had been spending too much time with the boys lately. Enough to pick up the nickname they had given her, even if it had been unintentional.

“Dominique,” He greeted her instead. He kept his voice flat, impersonal. He would not have his personal history affect his work environment. “What brings you here?”

“I need to speak to you,” Dominique said.

Goliath pointedly glanced at the clock. “It is three in the morning,” he pointed out, “and I am at work. Whatever you have to say can wait until later.”

“No,” She all but snapped. “It can’t.”

Goliath raised his brow at her in surprise. Even when they were younger, it had been a rare occasion for Dominique to show if she was nervous or upset. 

Yet, here she was, her body almost vibrating with… what? 

“What is wrong?” He asked bluntly.

“Can we go somewhere?” Dominique asked. 

Goliath shook his head. “No.” He said bluntly. 

“I need to speak with you, Goliath,” She said, anger beginning to break through her façade. “It’s important.”

Goliath got to his feet so that she could be close enough to her to speak without fear of being overheard. “More important than you almost striking our daughter with your car? Or hurting our friend?”

Dominique’s eyes shifted around, trying to gage if he had been overheard. “That was an accident,” Dominique said between gritted teeth. “I would never hurt my daughter on purpose. I didn’t know that she was there.”

“But you meant to hit Elisa?” Goliath challenged.

“I still cannot believe you named it,” Dominique ground out.

“She,” Goliath said with emphasis, “Is not an ‘it’. She is not a thing.”

“Well, she,” Dominique shot back with just as much emphasis, “is dangerous.”

“And you would know that, how?” Goliath asked quietly. 

“I..”

“I know that your company is involved in what happened to Elisa,” Goliath acknowledged. “So how do you know that Elisa is dangerous?”

“Because I’ve seen it,” Dominique bit out. “I have seen the videos and have read the reports.”

“As have I,” Goliath shot back. “I listened to the tapes, and Gods help those responsible when I catch them.”

“Wait,” Dominique blinked at him in surprise, then her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, you’ve heard the tapes?”

“Just what I said,” Goliath said. “I have heard the tapes.”

“Did it… she…give them to you?” Dominique bit out.

Goliath just looked at her, careful to keep his expression blank. 

“Of course she did,” Dominique said, and something that looked almost like fear passed through her eyes. “Where are they now?”

“They?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Goliath,” Dominique said, her voice raising just enough to get attention from a few nearby officers. She noticed, and dropped her voice again. “Where are the tapes?”

“They are safe,” Goliath insisted.

“Are they in the clock tower with the gargoyle,” Dominique asked, “Or are they at your apartment with our daughter?”

Goliath’s frown deepened. “How do you know all this… and why do you ask?”

Dominique didn’t answer, spinning on her heels to hurry back out of the station leaving Goliath staring after her in confusion.

He wished he could just write off her reactions to her seeking attention, but… 

He reached for his desk phone and dialed Angela's cell phone. When her voicemail picked up, he hung up and tried again.

And, again, there was no answer.

She could be asleep, but his intuition was screaming at him. Telling him that something was wrong.

A knot formed in his gut. He could be back at his place in roughly twenty minutes. He looked at the clock on the wall. Morning was coming soon, and it would be a risk, but he knew someone who could make it in less time. 

Elisa.


	22. Chapter 22

Elisa soared across the sky, racing time and daylight to make it to the apartment in time. She didn't understand what she may be heading towards, but she understood gut instincts. If Goliath felt like Angela might be in danger, Elisa would do her best to get there to head it off.

Elisa alternately rose higher in the sky, only to fold her wings in to use her own speed and gravity to speed her up. Elisa landed on the small balcony outside of their windows, and hurried to slide open the window. 

Luckily, the window was unlocked. Then again, why would it not be? Elisa glanced down at the street below. It was high enough up that they probably wouldn't be worried about anyone coming in that way, so why lock them?

Elisa hurried inside, and paused. Something wasn't right. It was too quiet. Too still.

And yet, she felt like someone was watching her.

"Angela?" Elisa called out quietly, and was met by an eerie silence. She, in an act of caution, left the windows open. There wasn't a lot of time left before sunrise, but if there was actually danger here, having the open would give her an added precious seconds where she could possibly get Angela to safety.

But there was nothing. Not a sound.

Elisa moved to the hallway, and crept towards Angela's bedroom. The door was closed, so Elisa knocked softly.

"Angela?" Elisa called quietly. She didn't want to wake her friend if she were sleeping, but…

Elisa reached out to turn the knob. She opened the door slowly, and found Angela laying on the bed with her back to the door. Elisa began to withdraw to allow her friend to remain sleeping, but then Elisa realized what was wrong with the scene.

Angela, having been home for hours, was still in her dress. Even her shoes were still on her feet.

Elisa froze, but could hear nothing. Cautiously, Elisa entered the room. The only light was coming from a small bedside lamp, otherwise the whole apartment was shrouded in darkness.

Elisa had just cleared the door when she heard a sound behind her. It was just the barest whisper of clothing, the scrape of a shoe on the carpeted floor, but it was enough for her to locate where the threat was.

In the next heartbeat, Elisa swung around. In a single move, she swung wide so that her tail slammed the door in the face of the person there and continued around to knock the lamp off onto the floor.

With the lamp in pieces, the room was once more shrouded in darkness. Elisa saw her friend jump, as if the sound had woken her. 

The shout from the now closed door let Elisa know that the door had hit its intended target, but her time was short, especially if there was more than one person out there.

“Angela,” Elisa dove for the bed. Angela had been bound, her hands tied in front of her, her mouth had been held shut with some kind of black tape, and she appeared to be half asleep. “Angela,” Elisa tried again, giving her friend a frantic shake. “Wake up,” Elisa begged. 

Elisa dashed forward, with the intent to block the door in some way, but the door swung open with a tremendous bang. Something small came through the room, and there was a small explosion. Bright light blinded Elisa, while the smoke was making it increasingly hard for her to breathe. Ears ringing, head pounding, Elisa blindly made her way to the bed once more and scooped her friend up. Elisa lowered Angela into a corner, between her small dresser and the wall before turning to take a defensive stance to block her friend from danger.

She heard voices, and began to blindly strike out. She landed a few lucky hits, but was ultimately ineffectual towards them.

She felt a sharp sting, then two, in her arm, and looked down to see what she now knew was a pair of tranquilizer darts. Frantically, she removed them and tossed them across the room, but it did no good.

The room began to blur and sway in front of her. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she was no longer able to stay on her feet. Landing on all fours, still determined to protect Angela, she heard the crackle of a radio come to life.

“We got her, boss,” a voice said, just as the world went black.


	23. Chapter 23

When Elisa awoke the following evening, she blinked in confusion. She was on the floor, the remnants of her stone skin all around her. The harsh fluorescent lighting in the small, white room, made her feel temporarily blinded by the brightness.

She was on the ground, which was never a good sign for a gargoyle. Waking on the ground meant that you were caught prone at daylight.

She remembered getting to Angela’s room, struggling to stay awake through the drugs that they had injected into her system, and trying to shield her friend. 

Elisa jumped to her feet and quickly scanned the room. Nothing. There wasn’t even furniture.

Just four blank walls, and a single metal reinforced door.

Elisa growled low in her throat, instinctively backing up a step as she realized where she was.

The Lab. 

Somehow, they had tracked her to Goliath and Angela’s home, and like a fool, she had led them there. She had put them in danger.

Surely they wouldn’t have brought them here. They had no need for the humans.

Right?

Elisa, fear and other emotions clutching at her chest, she ran to the door and began pounding with all her strength. She needed to get someone’s attention, and she needed to know if the Mason family were there.

‘And if they are?’ a voice in her head asked. ‘What do you think you can do?’

She would fight. She would even bargain with the doctors if she had to.

Anything to keep both Angela and Goliath alive and safe.

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{

Goliath was in a rage, completely irrational, and he knew it. There was nothing he could do about it, however.

Elisa and Angela were missing. Taken from their apartment, and no one had seen a thing. Judging from the destruction in Angela’s bedroom, and other signs throughout the house, one or both of the females had fought like hell.

He had gotten off of the elevator to find his door standing wide open, the lights off, and no one there. He had immediately called it into the station, contacted his building’s manager and asked for the security tapes, but they had all come up with nothing.

The best piece of information they had gotten was from a homeless man a block over who kept talking about a black helicopter that made very little noise. No identifying markers, but it had been hovering over the building.

Because Angela was the daughter of an officer, things would be expedited, but she was eighteen. Normally an adult would need to be missing for twenty four hours before anything would normally be done.

In desperation, he had even called Broadway to see if Angela could possibly still be with them and lost track of time.

Not only was she not with them, but they had come storming into his place and refused to leave until Angela was found. 

Lexington had spent hours on his computer and, with Goliath’s complete blessing, he had been searching whatever illegal sites he could find, trying to locate any information on who could have done this.

Once the crime scene people had left, Brooklyn had taken over putting the apartment back to rights. He had swept up the broken plates from the living room, and had voiced the same conclusion that Goliath himself had come to, in that Angela had fought being taken.

That eliminated anyone that they knew. 

Goliath glared at the windows. He would start locking the damn things from here on out. If whoever had done this had come through there, then he would have to find a way to lock them. He had left them unlocked because of Elisa…

Ah, yes. Elisa. The other half of Goliath’s fury. 

Elisa was missing as well. If she hadn’t made it here before the sun rose, then he had hoped that she had found a safe place for the day. The sun had set almost an hour ago, and there was still no word from or about her. If whoever had gotten their hands on his daughter had gotten Elisa as well, and he had to withstand more of the torturous treatment at the hands of people like the one who had made those tapes…

Wait…

Goliath surged to his feet and hurried into the kitchen where Broadway was attempting to piece together a meal for them all.

“Boys,” He said, scanning the kitchen, “Where are those tapes?”

The trio came into the kitchen, and shared a look.

“I didn’t touch them,” Brooklyn said.

“Neither did I,” Broadway said.

“Where was the last place you remember them?” Lexington asked.

“The last time I saw them, they were here, on the table,” Goliath said, gesturing to the small table top. 

“They must have taken them,” Brooklyn growled.

“Do you think it was people from the Lab?” Broadway asked with a frown.

“Who else would be interested in those tapes?” Lexington pointed out. 

“No one,” Came a tired voice from behind them.

The group turned to see Dominique standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed, and for the first time since they had seen her at the homecoming game, she looked tired. 

“Dominique,” Goliath growled out through gritted teeth. “How did you get in here?”

“Really, Goliath,” Dominique said with a sigh. “Our daughter is missing, and that’s what you’re concerned about?”

Goliath advanced on her. “You came to me last night, knowing about those tapes. Why?”

“Your Gargoyle switched the blank ones she was supposed to steal with the actual recordings.” Demona said. “Once they figured that out, they had no choice but to get it back.”

“Her,” Brooklyn burst out. “Stop calling Elisa an ‘it’. If you can’t force yourself to say her name, at least use the word ‘her’.”

Dominique glared at him. “Again, not the biggest problem we have.”

“Dominique,” Goliath yelled, knowing he was on the very edge of his temper. “Where is Angela? Do you know?”

Dominique hesitated, then nodded. “I never bothered to ask where that damnable laboratory was until tonight.”

“Why?” Lexington asked. His voice held a combination of anger and genuine curiosity.

“What did I care?” Dominique asked with a shrug. “I wasn’t interested in the ‘where’. Just the results.”

“And what were they so interested in?” Brooklyn asked.

“We listened to the tapes,” Broadway pointed out. “All of them.”

“What are they after?” Goliath demanded.

Dominique pushed away from the doorframe with her shoulder and strode more fully into the room. “They are interested in it’s… HER,” She glared at Brooklyn when he started to open his mouth, “DNA. If they could isolate some of her abilities and combine them with human DNA, think of the possibilities.” Dominique wandered around the kitchen, effectively walking a wide circle around the group of angry males. “Soldiers with borderline super strength. Rapid Healing abilities. And someday, maybe even flight.” Dominique stopped to stare at a picture on the wall of Angela and Goliath, possibly taken the year that they had first met. After a moment, she turned to face the group again. “Governments from around the world would pay anything for that.”

“So it is all about the money,” Goliath ground out. “Money and success are all that you have ever cared about.”

“Growing up with nothing,” Dominique snapped, “tends to make one strive to have more.”

“Where is Angela,” Goliath asked again. “And where is Elisa?”

“In the same place, fortunately for you,” Dominique said. “I will tell you where to find the lab. What you do with the information is up to you.”

“Why? Why betray those that you have been allied with?” Goliath demanded. “And why should we trust you?”

“They made a mistake when they took my daughter,” Dominique bit out. “As for trusting me… really, do you have any better ideas? Angela has already been there all day, but I have been assured that she is safe.” Demona lifted a folded paper from her pocket and held it between to fingers. “I only just got this information in my hands ten minutes ago, or I would have gotten her out before nightfall.”

“What’s happening now that it’s night?” Broadway asked.

Dominique sent him a glare for good measure. “Now that the gargoyle is awake, I assume that they will use Angela to get her to cooperate, don’t you?”

“Give me the address,” Goliath demanded, holding his hand out for the paper. 

Dominique pulled the paper back, holding it away from his hand. “I’m coming with you. Aside from that, I really don’t care who else you call in.”

“Done,” Goliath said, hand still outstretched.

“Done,” Dominique said, and dropped the paper into his waiting hand.

“Boys,” Goliath said, turning to the young men.

“No,” Brooklyn said, his arms folded, and a stubborn tilt to his chin. “We’re coming with you.”

“Fine,” Goliath sighed, knowing that there was no way he could actually make them stay behind… short of tying them to chairs, which while tempting, he wasn’t going to do it. “You follow behind, and you stay out of the laboratories.” When they began to protest, he glared at them all. “Let the police do their jobs. You may stay outside and wait for Angela.”

“And Elisa?” Broadway asked quietly.

Goliath sighed. “I will do my best to get Elisa out, unharmed, as well.” He swore to himself that he would do just that…

Now he would just have to figure out how.

But getting Angela out and leaving Elisa behind was unthinkable.


	24. Chapter 24

Angela woke with a groan. Her head pounded, her eyes couldn’t focus, and she felt a little nauseous. It was like a hangover… or at least she imagined how it would be. She’d never been hungover in her life, and if this was anything like how it felt, then she was never going to drink.

Ever.

Rolling onto her side, Angela tried again to open her eyes. Once again, she was assaulted by a blinding white, but this time she realized that it wasn’t her vision. 

Sitting up, Angela looked around the room. White walls, white ceiling, and even her gown and the bedding she was laying on was white. 

And not just white… it was as if everything was freshly painted and sterilized. As if nothing dirty had ever even some near anything here before.

She thought back to the night before. She’d gotten dressed, Elisa had done her hair into some dramatic Scottish Warrior style that she had loved, then her father had driven her to the dance. He had gone off to work, and she had joined the boys, who had already been there waiting for her.

True to their word, they hadn’t left her side, making sure that at least one of them was with her at all times as they had promised her father. It had been alternately funny, adorable and irritating.

Finally, after the dance had ended at midnight, the boys and she had gone to a school-organized after prom party and then out to a quick breakfast. She had her phone with her, and kept an eye on the time, as well as any messages from her father.

Every time they had changed locations, she had sent him a message so that he would know where she was and not some searching for her.

It was around four in the morning when they had finally called it quits and the boys had taken her home. Broadway, big sweetie that he was, had insisted on walking her to the door and had given her a long kiss goodnight at her door.

She had gone inside, locking the door behind her. She had set down her clutch purse, and began walking through the apartment towards her room, gratefully removing the pins from her hair as she went.

There had been something… a whisper of a noise… but it had caught her attention. She continued toward her room as if she hadn’t heard anything, but had scanned the room in front of her for anything she could use as a weapon. Passing the hall closet, she remembered the wooden bokken swords that she had been training with and had recently been used to brace Elisa’s injured leg. Angela turned the knob quietly and withdrew one of the wooden swords.

Armed, she continued across the living room, fully intending to barricade herself in her room and call for help…

Then she remembered her phone was in her bag, and she silently swore. She had put her bag down on the small table beside the door.

Turning, she went to go back for it, but a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she reflexively struck out with the sword. Bringing it across her body, she caught her attacker in the ribs, and followed through with a blade hand strike in the vague direction of their face.

Cursing the fact that she hadn’t turned on any lights, she could only go on instinct and what little light was coming from the outside. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and so she brought the bokken up and over her head, bringing it straight down and across the back of the person.

They had gone down with an outburst of breath, and Angela turned to sprint for the door. Something hit the wall just beside her head, and Angela ducked as she ran. There was a second person there, and they were throwing what sounded like plates or bowls which told her that they were in the kitchen.

Angela, stull ducked low, made a mad dash for the front door. All of her classes, all of the martial arts, had not prepared her for the rush of fear. She had taken one person down thanks to muscle memory, but trying to fight an unseen enemy had caused her flight instinct to kick in.

Her fingers barely brushed the door when a pair of strong arms had come around her waist, and suddenly she was being slammed into the wall. One arm pinned to her side, but one arm free, she had tried to break the hold with no success. She had heard two voices behind her, as another pair of arms came into view as they caught and held her remaining arm. She had watched helplessly as a hypodermic needle came into view and plunged into her arm.

She continued to fight as long as she could, but within moments, even her own head felt too heavy to hold upright. She remembered slumping in the arms that were holding her, and then moving, laying her on the floor there, but the next memory she had was just a jumble of voices and sounds. 

Conversations had gone on around her, though little of it made sense to her addled brain. 

She thought she had heard Elisa’s voice, being picked up in strong arms, and a lot of snarling and crashing, but she wasn’t sure if that had been real or a dream.

One thing was sure, however, and that was that she had a feeling that she knew where she was now. She had been brought to the laboratory.

For what reason, she wasn’t sure, and if her mother knew that she was here…

Angela shook her head. She wasn’t even sure if Dominique would care at this point.

Angela got up and began pacing the room. There were no windows, so she didn’t even know what time it was, but she was stiff enough that she was sure she’d been unconscious most of the day.

She paced the room, glancing occasionally at the metal handle-less door. She needed a plan, and she needed to clear her head. She continued pacing, making laps around the room, until she couldn’t take it anymore. There was one thing that this room didn’t have that she needed desperately.

“Hey,” She shouted, pounding a fist against the door. “Anyone out there?” She used both fists now, “Come on! I have to pee.”

There was a metallic click, and Angela took a step backwards as the door slid open.

Two doctors and one black-clad figure entered the room, scowling at her.

“Seriously, guys,” Angela said, holding her hands in the air. “I really need a restroom.”

One of the doctors sighed, glanced at the other one and rolled her eyes. “Fine. Follow me.”

Angela followed, head down, and tried to look harmless. Considering that she had no weapons, there was an armed guard right behind her and she had no idea how to get out of this place even if she could get away, it wasn’t hard.

She was led to a small, closet sized bathroom where she was able to relieve herself, wash her hands and splash some cold water on her face to finish clearing out the cobwebs from her brain.

Nothing came to mind as to what to do. 

Surely her father was looking for her, and he was good at his job. He would find her, she firmly believed. And the boys would be right behind him.

She would just have to stay here a bit, play along, and stay alive. 

Angela took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. Both doctors and the guard waited in the hallway. 

Instead of going back to her room, they turned her in the other direction. Angela followed behind them, silently and attempted to get her bearings and memorize where they were going and how to get back. 

It wasn’t possible. Everything was the same freshly painted white, the only color being the black and white checked tile on the floor and giving the whole place a very Alice in Wonderland sense of unreality. Every hallway looked the same, so in no time at all, she felt completely lost.

Eventually the doctors stopped in front of another door and all but shoved her unceremoniously inside. Angela managed to not fall on her face, but it was a near thing.

When the door closed behind her, she found herself in an empty room. 

“What in the…,” She trailed off as the wall to her left seemed to dissolve, and she could see into an identical room next to her. 

Inside that room, was Elisa.


	25. Chapter 25

Goliath’s car slid to a stop in the parking lot of a seemingly abandoned warehouse just off of 35th street, with the boys close behind him. 

He had called in the address over his radio just as he was leaving his apartment, and was relieved to see the sea of squad cars waiting for them there.

Goliath got out of the car and strode towards Captain Maria Chavez as she was handing out orders to the officers there.

“Mason,” She barked at him, “You’re not going in.”

Goliath was shaking his head, but before he could speak, Maria cut him off. “You’re not a cop right now. You’re a parent and not thinking clearly. That could get you, your daughter or the other officers hurt.”

Goliath’s fists bunched at his sides. Intellectually, he understood her reasons for keeping him outside, but he was not just going to sit by and just wait for something to happen.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Dominique. “We understand, Captain.” Goliath’s jaw fell as he listened. “Of course, we’ll wait out here.”

Goliath tried to shake her hand off, but she dug in. “Goliath,” She snapped. “Let’s take a walk. You need to cool off and let these officers do their job.”

She pulled him, and that alone was not enough to have him moving, but the look in her eyes made his feet move.

She walked him to the corner of the building, and turned so that he was almost completely out of view of the officers.

“Idiots,” Dominique snarled. “I can’t believe they’d think they could just go into the front door and find a hidden laboratory.”

Goliath frowned, feeling the need to defend his fellow officers, but…

“Where did you get this information?” He asked.

“A recently dismissed and disgruntled employee who had been the one transcribing those tapes. Evidently, they let her go when the switch had been discovered and was only too happy to tell me everything after I offered her a position at another of my company’s facilities.” Dominique said.

“Where is the entrance, Dominique?” He growled in frustration. 

“Halfway down this wall, there is a door to the basement levels.” She said, pointing in the direction behind him. “There is an entrance inside the warehouse here, but it will take them a while to organize and get below ground. Go,” She demanded. “Save our daughter. I will join you as soon as I can, but I will try to buy you time to get below.”

Goliath nodded, did an abrupt about face and began jogging. There were no lights on this side of the building, so he had to run a hand along the rough cinder block outer wall of the building. If he hadn’t, he would have missed it entirely in the darkness.

When he felt the wall give way to the recessed door, he stopped and felt his way forward and found the door.

Surprisingly, it was not locked.

He opened the door quietly, and slipped into the dimly lit stairway that led downward.


	26. Chapter 26

Elisa pounded at the room’s only door, shouting and trying to attract attention.

She knew from her previous time here that the doors only opened from the outside, and no matter what she tried from this side did much. Same with the walls. They had a layer of a concrete or plaster that she could easily dig through with her talons, but beneath that were layers and layers of metal that she was unable to get through.

She had tried, and every time, they would just shift her to a new room, patch up the previous wall, and shift her back again.

After a while, she had just given up.

She was starting to dig out around the door frame, just in case this room was not as well built as the others. She doubted it, but she was going to try.

A dull thumping met her ears, and she paused in her efforts. It hadn’t come from outside the door…

Elisa scanned the room, and focused in shock on the human female who was frantically pounding at an invisible wall that separated them. Elisa ran forward, her palms stopping her momentum with an audible slap as she came in contact with the surface that separated her from Angela. 

She could see Angela’s mouth move as she spoke, but the sound was muffled, almost as if she were speaking under water. Elisa looked over the surface, trying to find anything that could be a weak point where she could break through.

There were more muffled thumps, and Elisa turned her attention back on Angela. She moved to stand in front of the young woman, and placed her hand over where hers lay on the surface.

“Are you okay?” Angela mouthed out, slightly exaggerating the words.

Elisa gave her a small smile and nodded.

Angela attempted to return the smile, but it faded quickly and her head whipped towards the door. Elisa watched in horror as the door slid open, revealing a pair of the white lab coated doctors. They entered the room, and were followed by a large man holding a sturdy metal chair.

The man set the chair down, and stood to one side with his arms folded. His face said he was bored, but one of the lessons that Elisa had learned in this place was to not trust their faces.

Angela turned away from Elisa and faced the scientists. They were approaching her and speaking.

Elisa wished she could hear them.

Angela shook her head, and bunched her fists. She looked ready to fight, and Elisa began pounding on the wall between them. Nothing good would happen if she began causing trouble for them. Elisa was going to do her best to get the girl out unharmed, but in order to do that she needed Angela to cooperate.

Elisa pounded again to get Angela’s attention. 

Angela’s gaze met hers, and Elisa shook her head firmly. She held her hands up in a pleading gesture, and Angela slowly nodded.

Angela stood up straight, squared her shoulders and walked forward to sit in the chair with the black clad man behind her right shoulder. Angela folded her hands in her lap and glared at the two scientists.

Elisa took a deep breath in relief that Angela had understood. She watched helplessly as the scientists began speaking to Angela. For her part, Angela was staring straight ahead and answered things in short, if not single word answers.

The scientists continued their activities and Elisa’s mind continued to race. She had gotten lucky last time she escaped, even though she’d thought it had been a little too easy at the time, she’d grabbed the chance.

This time, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be so lucky. And it wouldn’t just be her this time. She would need to get Angela out as well.

The sound of the sliding door behind her caught her attention, and she swung around to meet the gaze of the two white coated scientists that had all but haunted her dreams… Or they would if Gargoyles dreamed.

“Welcome back,” The male said, “Did you have fun on your outing, my dear?”

Elisa growled involuntarily.

“Now, now,” The woman said, walking fully into the room from the doorway. “There will be none of that.”

Elisa’s eyes shifted between the two of them, trying to keep them both in her line of vision.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself,” The male said, giving her a dark grin. “Because, I’m afraid that there will be no more of that. We have work to do now.”

“Work?” Elisa asked, slowly lowering into a fighting stance. “What work?”

“Important work,” The woman said, briskly. “Enough talk. Are you going to come with us voluntarily, or will you need motivation to behave?”

Elisa crouched and bared her fangs.

“What did I say?” the woman snapped, and brought a familiar object from her pocket. It was small, and extended like a police baton, but this one was electrified. “We are not going to have any of the snapping, snarling or biting. Not tonight, and not ever.”

Elisa remained ready. She did not relish the thought of being shocked by that weapon, as she had already experienced that a time or two, but neither was she going to back down. Not with Angela in the next room.

“My dear,” the male said in a calm, almost cheerful voice that made Elisa’s jaw clench. He raised a small black object from his pocket and put his finger over a button. “I don’t think that will be necessary. All the gargoyle has to do is to look behind her to see what is at risk.” He pressed the button, and suddenly the room was flooded with sound.

Sounds of a struggle filled the room, and above it all was Angela’s voice. Angela was cursing her captors fiercely. There was the sound of something hitting the ground followed by some wheezing gasps.  
Elisa whirled to see that Angela had one of the doctors on the ground, curled in fetal position, having struck him in a… sensitive area. The other two in the room, however, must have called for reinforcements because a handful more people spilled into the room to help restrain her.

“Stop,” Elisa cried, slapping at the wall. “Leave her alone.”

“If you promise to comply with our orders, and cease fighting us,” the male said, “I will gladly call them off. Your friend will be taken back to her room, and left alone.”

Elisa didn’t believe that for a moment. “Let her go,” Elisa said roughly. “She is an innocent. Let her go, and I will not fight you.”

“No!” Angela cried, fighting against the hands that were restraining her. In the scuffle, the chair was knocked over and the fight continued on the floor. There were so many people in the room now that Elisa couldn’t even see Angela. Only hear the shouted, “Elisa, no!”

“Leave her alone,” Elisa said, her shoulders sagging. “Let her go free, and I will not fight you anymore.”

“Very well,” the man said, and spoke so that they could hear in the next room. “You heard her. She will behave as long as the girl is unhurt.”

“And released,” Elisa reminded him.

“And released,” The man said.

“That’s all well and good, Sevarius,” Came a frustrated voice from Angela’s room, but it was impossible to tell who had spoken, “But we’re going to have to drug her to get her to stop fighting.”

“Then do it,” He said offhandedly. “Then make sure she is released near where you found her.”

Elisa stood still, watching as Angela kept fighting, until she was injected with something that took the fight out of her. She wasn’t unconscious, but she seemed to go limp.

“What did you give her?” Elisa asked, her voice husky with pent up emotion.

“A simple paralytic,” The man said. “She is awake, but no longer able to cause us trouble.”

“Will it hurt her?” Elisa asked.

“No,” He replied. “It will wear off soon, and she will be back to her normal self.”

Elisa nodded. She had no choice but to trust that they would keep their word. Her only other option would be to fight them, and possibly have Angela hurt.

Elisa placed her hand on the wall, and watched as the people who had been restraining Angela backed away one by one. Finally, Elisa was able to see Angela. She looked a little rumpled, but appeared unhurt.

“I’m sorry,” Elisa said, hoping that her friend could hear her. “I am so sorry that you were brought into this mess. Go home, Angela, and live your life.”

Elisa had taken two steps away from the wall, her hands dropping limply to her sides, when a familiar form burst into the room. 

Weapon drawn, face a mask of fury, Goliath stood in the doorway and addressed the room. 

“NYPD,” he identified himself. “Hands on your heads and back away from the girl.”

Elisa watched, wide eyed, as the group did just that. Goliath moved into the room then, and pulled a radio from his pocket. He called for backup while keeping his full attention on the ones who had hurt his daughter.

Then he noticed Elisa, and blinked in surprise. He turned at an angle to keep an eye on the room’s occupants, but also to take in Elisa and those with her.

“Elisa?” He called out.

“Get Angela out of here, Goliath,” Elisa shouted before whirling on her own captors. 

She caught them by surprise as they were focused on what was happening in the other room, but that had only given her a moment. The woman brought the electrified baton down on Elisa’s leg, and Elisa let out a shout of pain. Eyes illuminating red, Elisa took hold of the weapon and, enduring more shocks from it, broke it in half before flinging it against the far wall.

She swept her tail out and took Sevarius’ legs from beneath him and sending him to the ground. The small remote that he had held in his hand flew and shattered against the stone floor, causing the wall where she could see Angela and Goliath to go opaque.

It was once more just a blank, white wall.


	27. Chapter 27

Goliath cursed as the image disappeared. He needed to get Angela out of here and to safety, then get to Elisa.

The sound of running footfalls and shouts met his ears, and he had a moment to wonder if it was from friends or foes.

A flood of black swat team members and the dark blue uniforms of the NYPD officers swarmed the room. Goliath stepped back, allowing them to do their job of securing the suspects. Shifting his gun back into its shoulder rig, he bent to his daughter.

She was awake, her eyes open and filled with fear. “What did you give her?” He snarled. 

One of the scientists broke down and began confessing about Angela’s abduction and what they had had to drug her with to get her to stop fighting.

A pair of officers leaned down to start assessing Angela, and a call for emergency medical assistance went out over the radio.

“Damn, Mason,” One officer said, coming to clamp his hand on Goliath’s shoulder. “Mind telling me how you got down here so fast?”

“I found a back door,” Goliath muttered.

“Yeah, well,” The man said with a half grin, “Cap’s pissed.”

Goliath nodded. He would deal with it later. “Thank you for letting me know, Morgan.”

Morgan shrugged. “We would have all done the same if it were one of our own kids.”

“Take her out,” Goliath said. “Take her to the ambulance, and get Angela to the hospital.”

“Where are you going?” Morgan demanded. 

“There is another girl here,” Goliath said, pointing at the wall that had appeared transparent only a few minutes ago. “I saw her in the next room.”

“Goliath,” He said with a frown. “We just came from that direction.”

Goliath froze, his blood chilling in his veins. “What?”

“We just came from that direction, and we swept every room on the way here after your radio call,” Morgan answered, his face etched in concern. “There is a lab next door with all kinds of crazy looking contraptions in it, but there were no people in there.”

}-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{ }-{

Goliath followed behind the team just long enough for them to shift their focus elsewhere. As they went around a corner, he slowed down. When the last person turned the corner and left his sight, he turned and ran back down the hallway.

If this was the direction the team had come from, and they had checked all of the room on the way, then Elisa wasn’t in this part of the building. What he had initially thought was that Elisa had been in the room next door, but now he realized that wasn’t true. He had been seeing images from somewhere deeper within the labs.

With his weapon at the ready, he worked his way through the endless maze of hallways.

He heard the fight before he saw it. The now unmistakable sound of a gargoyle roar, smashing of what he thought might be furniture and the firing of weapons. Goliath quickened his step, not running because he didn’t want to just burst into a dangerous situation, but feeling a pull to get there soon.

Coming to the end of the hall, he found that it was a “T” section, where the hallways branched off in opposite directions. He had a fifty-fifty shot, so as he got to the hall he turned right.

As he turned the corner, he jumped when a familiar redhead ran into him.

Reflexively, he reached out to steady the other person. 

“Dominique?” He asked and a surprised whisper. “What are you…”

“Later,” Dominique snapped. “The noise is coming from down there,” She pointed down the left hand hall. She raised a good-sized Glock in a practiced shooter’s hold and continued down the hall without him. 

Goliath whirled and joined her, hurrying to get just a little ahead of her. He wasn’t trying to suggest that she couldn’t handle herself, but he was the trained officer and she, while armed, was still a civilian.

The sounds grew louder the farther down the hall they went. 

"Secure her tail, you fools!" Came a raised female voice.

There was a loud crash, and Elisa shrieked in fury.

Goliath motioned Dominique to hug the wall behind him, and he crept forward towards the door. The metal security door now hung at an odd angle, affording Goliath a view of the room while providing enough cover to remain partially hidden.

Elisa was strapped to a table. Several unconscious guards littered the floor, giving Goliath a twinge of pride. She certainly wasn't making it easy for them.

A pair of guards approached the table from two different directions, dividing Elisa's attention. While she swiped at one guard with her tail, the other reached out with something that let out an audible crackle. Her body arched in pain, the straps holding her down on the metal table straining, and Goliath realized that they had given her a shock with something.

Goliath reached into the inner pocket of his coat and withdrew a small black device. He leaned in a little and activated the taser, watching as the yellow colored electrodes shot forward and hit their target on the arm of the man who had just shocked Elisa.

Not the smartest move on his part, but he was angry and not thinking clearly.

Obviously.

When the guard went down, screaming and convulsing, they all swung to look at the door.

"Fantastic," Dominique snarled, then moved around him to aim her gun in the doorway. She took careful aim and squeezed off a shot.

The harsh fluorescent lights in the overhead fixtures exploded, casting the room in darkness.


	28. Chapter 28

Elisa closed her eyes and turned her head as shards of plastic and glass rained down on her. 

The room had been plunged into darkness. There was light coming from the hallway through the gaps caused by the door that she had broken when they had forced her into the room. 

Elisa strained against the straps that were holding her to the table, still swinging her tail in wide arcs to keep everyone away from her.

There was a metallic scraping noise, and the shadows moved, telling Elisa that the door was being moved to allow people in and out of the room.

The bed she was laying on jostled, and she was being wheeled from the room as the panicked conversations whirled around her. There was a bump as the bed with the wall in the hallway, and Elisa found it empty. If there was no one there, what had caused the light to explode like that?

Hands were pushing the bed now, and she was being pushed quickly down the hallway, two of the black clad guards in front of them, and she could only assume there were a few more behind them, but she wasn’t able to turn her head far enough to see.

There was a commotion, and suddenly both Goliath and the redheaded woman the boys had called Demona were in front of them and shouting orders. Despite being armed themselves, the guards put their hands up, lowering to their knees.

Demona kept the men there, and Goliath hurried to stand beside her, repeating the orders to the people farther down the hall. A few moments later, Goliath was back where she could see him, and was putting the thin plastic strips that she knew of as Flex Cuffs around the wrists of the security people.

Once that had been completed, Goliath hurried to her side. He hurriedly released the metal buckles on the straps and helped her from the table.

“Thank you,” Elisa said, accepting the hand that Goliath had extended to her. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid off to stand on her feet.

“Leaving you here was not an option,” Goliath said softly. “But we need to get you out before the others return.”

Elisa nodded. “This way,” She said, gesturing for them to follow.

“No,” The woman shouted.

Elisa and Goliath turned to face her. 

“I am not leaving without Angela,” She snarled. “Where is she?”

Elisa skidded to a stop, turning panicked eyes on Goliath. Had she been mistaken? Was Angela still down here somewhere?

“She is safe,” Goliath said to calm the two females. “We found Angela first, and she was taken out by the other officers. She is out front being cared for.”

“What?” Dominique said, aghast. “So… all of this…” she gestured around them at the damage and people held in the Flex Cuffs, “Was for the gargoyle?” 

Goliath huffed out a sigh. “We do not have time to argue, Dominique,” he said, then turned to run after Elisa.

Dominique followed closely behind as Elisa navigated the hallways and led them straight to the stairway to the alley that Goliath had taken earlier. 

Elisa hesitated at the doorway that would let them out into the alley, and Goliath pushed past her to open the door slowly. As he walked out into the darkened alley, verifying that there was no one outside to witness Elisa’s escape, He turned to motion for the two others to follow.

Elisa hurried outside, frantically checking the sky.

“There is still plenty of time, Elisa,” Goliath assured her. “Hurry now, before you are seen.”

Elisa nodded, and began climbing the building. As she pulled herself over the edge and onto the roof, she sent Goliath a look over her shoulder. 

Goliath waved her on. Elisa nodded and disappeared from sight.

Goliath sighed in relief, even though he was anxious to get to Angela, work here was still not done. He grabbed his radio again, alerting the officers that there was another group of people down in the labs who were in need of transport to the station. He gave them rough directions to where they were, but being how extensive the laboratory was, it would still take them a while.

“I simply cannot believe that you let me go through all of that for the Gargoyle,” Dominique growled, breaking into his thoughts as soon as his radio clicked off. “You should have told me that Angela was out and safe.”

“We were busy at the time,” Goliath pointed out, irritated. “How was I to know that you did not yet know that Angela was safe?”

Dominique stewed for a moment, getting a grip on her temper, before finally raising her gaze.

“This was nice,” She said finally, quietly. She was very aware that there was still a lot of police officers nearby, and she didn’t necessarily want them to hear voices and come running. “It has been a long time since we worked together like this,” She said, a wave of nostalgia washing over her.

“Yes,” Goliath answered, somewhat distractedly as he scanned the sky for Elisa, hoping that she’d managed to get airborne.

Dominique felt her irritation rise. She had been planning on how to begin this talk, but he wasn’t even paying attention to her.

“Goliath, I…” Dominique started speak. If only they could have a few seconds more, perhaps... perhaps she could tell him the truth… that she felt something for him. That she wished things could be different. 

Goliath turned his gaze on her, and she recognized the disapproving look in her one-time love’s eyes and she shrunk back. 

Goliath looked at her expectantly, frowning at her reaction but waiting for her to complete her thought.

Dominique steeled herself. Now was just as good a time as any to come clean about her feelings. "Goliath, for what it's worth, I never wanted any of this to happen. I never wanted you to hate me the way that you do. I did what I thought was best for our daughter."

"No," Goliath said, shaking his head sadly. He didn’t know what her game was, or if she even had a point to make, but he just wanted it to be done so that he could finish up here and take his daughter home. "You did this, everything then and now, for you."

"So that's it then?" Dominique said. "Have you no place in your heart for what we had?"

"Once, maybe," Goliath admitted. "There was a time when I would have forgiven you anything."

Dominique glared at him. "For all your high and mighty morals and self-importance, all of your preaching and lectures on forgiving others, you suddenly lack the ability to forgive someone a mistake?"

Goliath’s posture stiffened. “To have forgiveness, you have to first accept responsibility for your actions, Dominique, and that is something that you have never willingly done.”

“Like what?” She asked, frustrated. “What mistake did I make that was so unforgivable?”

"Abandoning our child, keeping her very existence from me, was not a mistake, Dominique." Goliath said, calm in the face of her anger and feeling nothing but sorrow for the girl she had once been and whom he had once loved. He took an unconscious step away from her. "That was a conscious and malicious choice that you, and you alone, made. Having her raised like I was, in a home of strangers and no real family, is unforgivable to me. If you had known me at all, you should have realized that."

"Oh, but you can accept that creature, make allowances for her and forgive her for putting our daughter in mortal danger?" Dominique bit out. "I'm not the monster here, she is."

"Monsters are not dependent upon their outward appearances. Monsters are made because of their actions." Goliath retorted. "Elisa has saved Angela, saved me, putting her own life at risk to do so. She did that very thing, tonight. She was willing to put herself back into the hands of the scientists at this facility to keep Angela safe. When I got there, Elisa was bartering Angela’s release in exchange for her own safety."

"So you're saying, what?" Dominique stared at him in disbelief, her eyes filling with tears of regret and self-pity. "That you have feelings for the gargoyle? She's not even human, Goliath"

Goliath said nothing. What could he say? The fact that he had started developing feelings for Elisa was something that he would have to examine later.

"Fine. If that is the way that you would have it, Goliath" Dominique said.

Goliath sighed. There was no use continuing this. Their time was running short. "We must all eventually answer for our decisions in life, Dominique. For now, go. Leave this place. I will not have our daughter see you arrested this night when she has already been through so much," he sighed. "But if your role is discovered in all of this, I cannot protect you. Xanatos will be going behind bars for the illegal machinations that this laboratory was involved in. I hope, for your sake and Angela's, that you finally find the forgiveness and leniency that you seek."

"So be it," Dominique snarled, and stormed down the alley to disappear into the darkness.


	29. Chapter 29

Goliath watched her go, and realized that he felt… nothing. No hurt, no anger. It wasn’t indifference, not really, just a lingering sadness over what he had wanted for them once, many years ago. 

He had put it out of his mind for many years, only to have his new found daughter bring it back. Then he’d felt an almost all consuming rage.

Now… there was only that brief flash of sadness, then it was gone as if it had disappeared into the darkness with her.

Instead of joining the officers below, he decided that he had already done his part and made his way back towards the parking area. The entire parking lot had been filled with police and rescue vehicles, their red and blue lights lighting the night. He found the boys first, as they were gathered in a small grouping outside of an ambulance.

“Mister…er… Detective Mason,” Lexington shouted as he spotted the large man. “Over here.”

Goliath nodded his acknowledgement, and walked quickly to join them. “How is she?”

“They aren’t telling us anything,” Brooklyn said with a shrug. 

“Because you aren’t her parent or even family,” an EMT said as he climbed out the back of the ambulance. “Detective Mason,” The EMT held out his hand and shook Goliath’s hand. “Your daughter will be fine. She was given a paralytic, but she never lost consciousness. We have given her a drug cocktail that will reverse it a lot faster than letting it wear off on its own, but it will still take her a while.”

“But she’s okay?” Broadway burst out.

The EMT rolled his eyes. “I told you that she’d be fine, kid.”

The boys all send the EMT a glare… behind his back, of course. 

Goliath assumed that the boys had been there, getting in the way and generally wreaking havoc. They did stay by Angela’s side, however, and for that he would be grateful.

“Will she need to go to the hospital?” Goliath asked, trying to ignore the boys’ antics. 

“No,” The EMT said. “Now that she is able to speak and answer some questions, we know that the only thing that they gave her was the paralytic, similar to having certain kinds of surgery. She’s not having trouble breathing, all of her stats are within the normal range. She is starting to speak and move around a bit, and is adamant about not going to the hospital if she doesn’t need to. If she has any symptoms that pop up later, I would advise you to take her in to the ER, but she is able to go home as long as someone will be there to help her.”

As one, the boys raised their hands to offer their help and Goliath knew that there would be no getting rid of them now.

Goliath climbed into the ambulance, and lifted his still mostly limp daughter from the gurney. “Are you sure that you want to come home?” he asked in concern. “Perhaps it would be best if you went to the hospital tonight.”

“No,” Angela said loudly. “Take me home, dad.”

“Here,” the EMT said, holding out a small white card to Goliath. Realizing that the man’s hands were full, he handed it to the boys. After the boys had a short-lived fight over who got the card, the EMT sent Goliath a pitying look. “That card has my cell number, Detective. If you have any questions or concerns, you can call me. I am on shift until seven o’clock.”

“Thank you,” Goliath said, bowing his head in appreciation.

The EMT threw the boys one last glance. “I’d wish you good luck,” He said with a sigh. “But I’ll wish for you to have patience.”

“Much appreciated,” Goliath grumbled as he turned to step down out of the Ambulance.


	30. Chapter 30

Angela was laid out on the couch, a large quilt covering her.

Once she had gotten into some familiar clothes, she seemed to relax and within moments, she was asleep. The trio of boys refused to leave, so Goliath stood over them as they all called their families and let them know where they would be.

The last thing he needed was a group of irate parents at his door.

With Angela resting comfortably, and home, he finally allowed himself to relax a bit. While the boys brought out the small table and began quietly playing cards, Goliath made himself a cup of coffee and went outside to the balcony.

He took a few sips, feeling the caffeine hit his system, then felt a presence behind him. Without turning, he said, “Hello, Elisa.”

There was a rustle, and a surprisingly soft thump as she came to rest on the balcony beside him.

“How is Angela?” She asked.

Goliath was amazed. After all that she’d been through herself, her first concern was about the welfare of his daughter. “She is fine,” Goliath answered softly. “She is sleeping now, but she should be back to her normal self in the morning.”

Elisa gave him a small smile before bowing her head. “I am so sorry, Goliath,” She said, and he could hear how the emotions were adding a touch of huskiness to her voice. “I would never have put you… any of you… in danger by choice.”

“I know,” Goliath said, turning to face her. Gently, he set his coffee down on the low stone edge. “It had never crossed my mind to blame you.”

“Maybe it should have,” Elisa said sadly. “They were tracking the tapes. One of them had a tracker on it. If I hadn’t left them here…”

“Elisa,” Goliath said, putting his hands on her shoulders firmly. “You are not to blame for the actions of these people.”

What a turnaround, Goliath thought suddenly. To speak to one woman who wouldn’t accept responsibility for her own actions, then speak to Elisa who was wanting to shoulder the responsibility for everyone.

“Maybe I should go,” Elisa said softly. “My just being here will put you all at risk for this to happen again.”

“Not likely,” Goliath said. “David Xanatos is going to jail for funding the operation. Everyone that was in the laboratory has been arrested as accessories, and those supposed ‘doctors’ that caused you all so much pain are going to jail for illegal practices as well. You are safe.”

“For how long?” Elisa burst out. “How long until someone else tries?” Elisa turned to gaze at the city. “This time is so strange. No one knows of Gargoyles, and as such, I will consistently be thought of as a monster to be caged and studied.”

“We will all do our best to make sure that does not happen,” Goliath assured her. “There is no need for you to go anywhere. Besides,” He said with a gentle smile, “You will need friends to help. And here,” He gestured to the apartment, “You have five. And that is just a start.”

Elisa raised a corner of her mouth in an uneven smile. “Are you sure that you want me around?”

Goliath raised a hand to cup her cheek. “Yes. Please, say you will stay.”

Elisa’s eyes grew round for a moment, before she closed them and leaned he cheek into his palm. When she opened them again, he could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

“If you’re sure,” Elisa said, and Goliath knew he’d finally convinced her.

“Stay here today,” Goliath said, reluctantly lowered his hand… and wasn’t that something he would have to think about later? “Sunrise is approaching quickly. You would not make it to the clock tower.”

Elisa nodded. “I will.”

The two of them spent the last of the night time sitting outside, and talking.

When sunrise came, Elisa lowered to kneel on one knee, her wings caped around her shoulders and her head bent as if in deep thought.

Goliath picked up his lukewarm coffee and took a sip as he watched the sun rise. 

It was a new day, he thought with a smile. It was time to start a new chapter in their lives, one that included Elisa in it.

It was sure to be interesting, with secrets to keep and adventures to be had, but he welcomed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Author's note: If you're still reading this, and have stuck with me this far, you have my undying gratitude. While this one was SUPPOSED to be a short, just-for-fun story, it completely took on a life of its own. That being said, I had an absolute blast with this one. Special thanks to Jackie, who not only kept hounding me for more, she was willing to have many a late night of brainstorming this one out. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! I promise I will get back toy regular fics soon. Take care everyone!


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